The Bratislava Region is one of eight Higher Territorial Administrative Units in The Slovak Republic. The Region is the smallest one; hence, it has the highest per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and the highest among the new EU Member States. It also accounts for the highest wage and employment levels and the best research infrastructure in Slovakia. There is an immense potential to address the competitiveness challenges that Europe faces today. The self-government administration exercises its powers to ensure best economic and labour conditions and provide services to all residents and guests respectfully and decently.

Bratislava is the capital city of the Slovak Republic and a historical, cultural and economic centre of the higher territorial unit of Bratislava Region.

Geography

The Bratislava Region is located in the extreme south-western corner of Slovakia. Its southern part stretches along the Danube River, follows the Slovak-Hungarian border, while its western part traces the Morava River alongside the Slovak-Austrian border.

The mountain hills of the Little Carpathians or Malé Karpaty and the lowlands of Podunajská nížina and Záhorie cover the prevailing part of the territory of 2,053 km².

The area has great water sources of the Morava River, the Danube River and the Little Danube River. There are three areas under environment protection: The Little Carpathian Mountains, Záhorie Lowland and Dunajské luhy floodplains. The neighbouring regions are Trnava Region in the north and east, the Hungarian county of Győr-Moson-Sopron in the south, and two Austrian regions of Burgenland in the south-west and Niederösterreich in the west.

History of the higher territorial unit of Bratislava

Historical sources confirm the existence of administrative territories copying the area of nowadays Bratislava Region already in the 10th century, that time known as an administrative unit of communities or komitát. In 13 and 14 century the name of Bratislava county administration appears together with the Nitra and Trenčín administrative centres.

However, today’s regional territory was proclaimed as an administrative unit of Bratislava County and part of the Czecho-Slovakia First Republic in 1919. The Bratislava County existed until the end of 1927 when the county administrative establishment was abolished in Slovakia.

Bratislava County was renewed during the war period (1939 – 1945), and together with a small occupied part of the former Nitra County, it became part of the newly created Nitra-Bratislava County.

In 1949-1960 the territorial unit of Bratislava Region used to exist but was replaced in 1960 with the Western Slovak Region.

After the abolition of the regions in 1990, the current system was introduced in 1996, and upon decentralisation reform, the administrative area became autonomous in 2002, it is governed by the Bratislava Self-Governing Region.

Demographics

The Bratislava Region is both the NUTS II and NUTS III region and consists of five Bratislava districts (NUTS IV level), three rural districts (Pezinok, Malacky and Senec) and 73 municipalities. Despite being the smallest Region of Slovakia, it is the most densely populated part of Slovakia with some 317,1 inhabitants per square kilometre. In 2016, it had a significantly higher gross domestic product (GDP) expressed in purchasing power standard per inhabitant (53,700) than Slovak (22,400) and EU-28 (29,200) averages. Its population is 641,892 inhabitants (Eurostat, 2018). Unemployment rates in the region (4.2%) were significantly lower than Slovak (8.1%) and EU-28 (7.6%) averages in 2017 (Eurostat, 2018).

The largest city is Bratislava (425,459 inhabitants) followed by the town of Pezinok (21,334 inhabitants). The urbanisation is 83.2%, and the Region is part of the leading European urbanisation axes – Stuttgart – Ulm – Munich – Salzburg / Linz – Vienna / Bratislava – Budapest – Belgrade.

The majority of the population are Slovaks (91.2%). However, the Region favours from labour migration from other parts of Slovakia and the presence of ethnic minority groups, such as Hungarians (4.6%) and Czechs (1.6%), followed by Germans, Moravians, Croats, Ruthenes, Ukrainians, Romani, and Poles.

The presence of universities, research centres, technology centres and industrial parks enhance the Region’s strong potential in research and innovation. These facts illustrate the favourable conditions awaiting potential investors and offering a range of attractions, heritage and experiences for tourists from all around the world.

The President represents the executive authority of the Region, acting as authorised representative concerning the management of the regional self-governing administration, its resources and other relations. The President is elected by inhabitants, based on universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. Also, the President makes decisions on issues where, by the law, the Self-Governing Region as a public administration body, is authorised to decide on duties and obligations of legal entities and individuals.

The Regional Council (Parliament) is a body formed by members of the Bratislava Self-Governing Region elected in the direct elections. The elections are governed by a specific law and seconded legislation. Following the necessary statutory regulation as per Act of 4 July 2001, on the self-government of the “higher territorial units”, the Regional Parliament defines the election districts and sets the number of MPs for the overall term, with a coverage of 12 000-15 000 people per one MP. The Regional Council is authorised to decide upon the principal issues of the Self-Governing Region.