This year, Slovenia is celebrating 30 years of being an independent, sovereign state, and the lives of Slovenian citizens are much better today than they were 30 years ago.
The life expectancy of citizens is increasing. In 1991, Slovenia had 1,998,912 citizens, and at the beginning of 2021, it had 2.108.977 citizens, which is 110,065 more (this number is slightly lower than the number of people who currently live in the municipality of Maribor).
Gross domestic product (GDP) has increased by more than 3 thousand percent, from just under 1.5 billion euros in 1991 to 46.3 billion euros in 2020. In 1991, GDP per capita was 5,131 euros, and in 2020, it increased to 22.014 euros, which is four more times than in 1991.
In 1991, the net salary was merely 43 euros
There are even bigger differences in the average monthly salary. In 1991, the average net salary was 43 euros (10,322 Slovenian tolars at the time), and in 2020, the average net salary was 1209 euros, which is 2706 percent more than in 1991. Let’s take a look at the price of bread as an example: in 1991, the price of a kilogram of bread was, if we convert it to euros, 0.11 euros. In 2020, the average price of a kilogram of bread was 2.42 euros, which is 2,100 percent more. The difference in the amount of the average salary is best illustrated by how much of a certain good we were able to buy with the same amount of money in 1991 and how much we can buy today.
| Quantity of goods purchased with the average net monthly earnings in Slovenia, 1991 – 2020 | ||
| 1991 | 2020 | |
| Bread, kg | 397 | 449 |
| Wheat flour, kg | 693 | 1679 |
| Pork, cutlet, kg | 61 | 208 |
| Oil, edible, l | 237 | 870 |
| Potatoes, kg | 787 | 1570 |
| Sugar, white, kg | 409 | 1405 |
| Coffee, classic, kg | 36 | 134 |
| Washing machine | 1 | 3 |
Some other interesting information
– In the year 1991, the average life expectancy at birth was 69.45 years for men and 77.25 years for women. In 2929, this rose to 78.5 years for men and 84.22 years for women.
– We exceeded the number of two million citizens in mid-2005, and in mid-2019, for the first time in more than 160 years of Slovenia’s history, there were more men than women in the country.
– In 1991, 21,583 live births were recorded, then the number decreased, and in 2003 the number of newborn children was lowest. In 2020, 18,527 children were born.
– In 1991, 19,324 citizens died, in 2020, 23,969 died.
– The number of families without children is increasing, as is the number of single-parent families, and at the same time, the number of children in a family is decreasing.
– Twenty-six percent of families are without children, and 41 percent have one child.
– The education of the population in Slovenia is increasing. In 1991, most of the population of Slovenia only had a primary school education, and in 2020, most citizens had a secondary professional and secondary general education.
