Bratislava is able to help Vienna resolve its problem with youth unemployment, said Mário Holzner, executive director of the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies. He believes that there is scope for economic cooperation between Bratislava and Vienna as they are the two geographically closest capitals in Europe. He added that Slovakia is losing its population of a productive age and as a result the Bratislava region lacks labour. On the other hand, Vienna is experiencing a massive growth in population. While it had a population of 1.5 million three decades ago, this number is now close to 2 million. The city attracts people mainly because of its quality of life, as confirmed by many studies.
Meanwhile, "Bratislava isn't experiencing a population boom, but an economic one. Before the financial crisis, Bratislava region's annual GDP growth was between 20-25%, which is an incredible figure. It's one of the EU's strongest regions in terms of GDP per capita," said Holzner. "There's still a problem with nominal salaries in Bratislava. Nevertheless, due to relatively robust [economic] growth, we expect that this indicator could be evened out by 2030. In the decade to come it will make sense to go to work to Bratislava while living in Vienna," added Holzner.
