Slovakia registered its first natural population decline in 17 years in 2020, meaning that the number of deaths exceeded the number of live births. This phenomenon occurred in a total of five regions of the country, demographic data released by the Statistics Office showed on Thursday. Despite this, Slovakia's total population managed to grow, but only thanks to migration.
"The number of live births in 2020 reached 56,550, which was a new record low since 2015. The number of deaths stood at 59,089, increasing by over 10 percent compared to the year before as well as the average of the past five years," explained Statistics Office spokeswoman Jana Morhacova.
The steepest natural population declines were registered in Nitra, Trencin and Banska Bystrica regions. Conversely, natural growth was observed in Bratislava, Presov and Kosice regions. The largest growth in terms of live births per 100,000 people was recorded in the Bratislava region, where the figure stood at 265 births, while the highest number of children were born in the Presov region - 9,997.
After factoring in migration data, including internal, region-to-region migration, total population declines were observed in four of the country's eight regions. The most notable total population decline was observed in Nitra region (down 2,798 people), which was followed by Banska Bystrica, Trencin and Zilina regions. Meanwhile, the total population in Bratislava region increased by 7,432. Growth was also observed, especially thanks to internal migration, in the Trnava and Kosice regions.
