Migration

Migration has a specific position among the demographic processes. It sensitively reacts on the key changes in political and economic situation in the world.

The development of registered migration for recent 25 years in the Slovak Republic can be divided into three phases. The first phase covers the 80s. From the migration standpoint, the Slovak Republic was loss - making. The losses were recorded not only in the migration with the Czech Republic but also with other countries. The character of the migration of Slovakia was mostly influenced by the migration with the Czech Republic, which was at those times considered as an internal within the former Czechoslovakia. For example, in 1985 it represented almost 95 % of the migration turnover across the borders of Slovakia.

The second phase was the period from 1990 up to 1993, i.e. the period of political and social changes directly after November 1989, which covered also the split of the common state. The events from this period had a significant impact on the development of migration. The Slovak Republic recorded losses only from the migration with the Czech Republic; in the migration with other countries it recorded migration gains. However, prevailingly the return migration of former emigrants was in question. The migration turnover with the Czech Republic reached in 1992 even 18.6 thousand people and was influenced mainly by the split of the common state being under preparation.

Within the third phase (1994 - 2004), in accordance to the registered migration the Slovak Republic became a profitable country in terms of both types of migration - in migration with the CR, as well as in migration with other countries. The migration turnover with the CR had been significantly reducing during this period and from 1995 (except for 2000) the CR has not most remarkably contributed to the migration turnover of the SR but rather other countries. The migration gain with the Czech Republic achieved the maximal share at the break point of millenniums (65.5 % and 58.5 % in 2000 and 2001 respectively), but until 2004 it rapidly decreased down to 11.3 %.

However, the data on emigrants from the SR (but also from other countries) are incomplete and thus the registered migration does not reflect the real situation at full extent. Apparently, the numbers of emigrants are significantly higher.

In Slovakia the immigrants from Europe prevailed. In 2004 they represented nearly 80 % from all immigrants, of which 64 % were from the EU countries. The CR still remains the main source country for external migration of the SR.

The accession of the SR into EU has brought several changes into legislation in connection to the stay of foreigners in the territory of the SR. All legislative changes are reflected also in the statistical data, in the flow as well as stock data of foreigners. According to the data of the Ministry of Interior of the SR, while during 1998-2003 the number foreigners with permanent residence or a temporary stay (possibly long-term) maintained at the level of around 29 thousand people, in 2004 only 22 thousand foreign citizens lived in the territory of the SR.

Slovakia is one of the significant crossing routes of illegal migrants. The east-west route goes from Russia and Ukraine, the south-west from Balkan. Mainly by these routes the mixed groups of legal and illegal migrants, prevailingly refugees, cross the borders of Slovakia. Since 1992 until the end of May 2005, nearly 46 thousand foreigners had applied for asylum in the SR, while the maximum number, even 11.4 thousands applications, was submitted in 2004. However, from 1992 until the end of August 2005 the asylum was granted only to 575 persons, by which Slovakia ranked among countries with the lowest rate of granted asylums in Europe. This situation was caused mainly by the fact that many applicants were not really interested in living in Slovakia. Those are often economic migrants, whose aim is to continue into countries with better economic conditions.

In the field of internal migration when in the 80s inhabitants headed from the hinterland for the centre, from 1990 tendencies of suburbanisation started to form.