Slovakia (Slovensko: Slovensko) or Slovak Republic (Slovak: Slovenská republika) is a sovereign country member of the European Union (since 2004). Located in Central Europe, it borders on the north with Poland, on the east with Ukraine, a non-EU state, on the south with Hungary, on the west with Austria and on the northwest with the Czech Republic. It has a population of 5 389 180 inhabitants and its capital is Bratislava with 425 155 inhabitants. The Carpathian Mountains occupy the entire northern part of the country.

The end of communism in 1989 also meant the end of Czechoslovakia as such and the creation of two successor states: Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which separated their paths on January 1, 1993.