Economy - overview | With excellent infrastructure, a well-educated work force, and a strategic location between the Balkans and Western Europe, Slovenia has one of the highest per capita GDPs in Central Europe, despite having suffered a protracted recession in the 2008-09 period in the wake of the global financial crisis. Slovenia became the first 2004 EU entrant to adopt the euro (on 1 January 2007) and has experienced a stable political and economic transition.
In March 2004, Slovenia became the first transition country to graduate from borrower status to donor partner at the World Bank. In 2007, Slovenia was invited to begin the process for joining the OECD; it became a member in 2012. From 2014 to 2016, export-led growth, fueled by demand in larger European markets, pushed annual GDP growth above 2.3%. Growth reached 5.0% in 2017 and is projected to near or reach 5% in 2018. What used to be stubbornly high unemployment fell below 5.5% in early 2018, driven by strong exports and increasing consumption that boosted labor demand. Continued fiscal consolidation through increased tax collection and social security contributions will likely result in a balanced government budget in 2019.
Prime Minister CERAR’s government took office in September 2014, pledging to press ahead with commitments to privatize a select group of state-run companies, rationalize public spending, and further stabilize the banking sector. Efforts to privatize Slovenia’s largely state-owned banking sector have largely stalled, however, amid concerns about an ongoing dispute over Yugoslav-era foreign currency deposits. |
GDP (purchasing power parity) | $81.614 billion (2019 est.) $79.095 billion (2018 est.) $75.773 billion (2017 est.) note: data are in 2010 dollars |
GDP (official exchange rate) | $54.16 billion (2019 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 2.4% (2019 est.) 4.24% (2018 est.) 5.14% (2017 est.) |
GDP - per capita (PPP) | $39,088 (2019 est.) $38,139 (2018 est.) $36,670 (2017 est.) note: data are in 2010 dollars |
Gross national saving | 26.5% of GDP (2019 est.) 27.2% of GDP (2018 est.) 26.5% of GDP (2017 est.) |
GDP - composition, by end use | household consumption: 52.6% (2017 est.) government consumption: 18.2% (2017 est.) investment in fixed capital: 18.4% (2017 est.) investment in inventories: 1.1% (2017 est.) exports of goods and services: 82.3% (2017 est.) imports of goods and services: -72.6% (2017 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 1.8% (2017 est.) industry: 32.2% (2017 est.) services: 65.9% (2017 est.) |
Ease of Doing Business Index scores | Overall score: 76.5 (2020) Starting a Business score: 93 (2020) Trading score: 100 (2020) Enforcement score: 54.8 (2020) |
Population below poverty line | 12% (2018 est.) |
Labor force | 885,000 (2020 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 5.5% industry: 31.2% services: 63.3% (2017 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 7.64% (2019 est.) 8.25% (2018 est.) |
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 8.1% male: 7.4% female: 9.2% (2019 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.8% highest 10%: 20.1% (2016) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index | 24.2 (2017 est.) 24.5 (2015) |
Budget | revenues: 21.07 billion (2017 est.) expenditures: 21.06 billion (2017 est.) |
Taxes and other revenues | 43.1% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) | 0% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
Public debt | 73.6% of GDP (2017 est.) 78.6% of GDP (2016 est.) note: defined by the EU's Maastricht Treaty as consolidated general government gross debt at nominal value, outstanding at the end of the year in the following categories of government liabilities: currency and deposits, securities other than shares excluding financial derivatives, and loans; general government sector comprises the central, state, local government, and social security funds |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 1.6% (2019 est.) 1.7% (2018 est.) 1.4% (2017 est.) |
Credit ratings | Fitch rating: A (2019) Moody's rating: A3 (2020) Standard & Poors rating: AA- (2019) |
Agriculture - products | milk, maize, wheat, grapes, barley, potatoes, poultry, apples, beef, pork |
Industries | ferrous metallurgy and aluminum products, lead and zinc smelting; electronics (including military electronics), trucks, automobiles, electric power equipment, wood products, textiles, chemicals, machine tools |
Industrial production growth rate | 8.6% (2017 est.) |
Current Account Balance | $3.05 billion (2019 est.) $3.17 billion (2018 est.) |
Exports | $49.872 billion (2019 est.) $48.001 billion (2018 est.) $45.096 billion (2017 est.) |
Exports - commodities | packaged medicines, cars and vehicle parts, refined petroleum, electrical lighting/signaling equipment, electricity (2019) |
Exports - partners | Germany 18%, Italy 11%, Croatia 8%, Austria 7%, France 5%, Switzerland 5% (2019) |
Imports | $45.489 billion (2019 est.) $43.637 billion (2018 est.) $40.625 billion (2017 est.) |
Imports - commodities | packaged medicines, cars and vehicle parts, refined petroleum, delivery trucks, electricity (2019) |
Imports - partners | Germany 14%, Italy 12%, Austria 8%, Switzerland 8%, China 7% (2019) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | $889.9 million (31 December 2017 est.) $853 million (31 December 2016 est.) |
Debt - external | $48.656 billion (2019 est.) $50.004 billion (2018 est.) |
Exchange rates | euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.82771 (2020 est.) 0.90338 (2019 est.) 0.87789 (2018 est.) 0.885 (2014 est.) 0.7634 (2013 est.) |
Fiscal year | calendar year |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021