A small country in Central Europe, Slovenia’s geography includes Alpine mountains, thick forests, historic cities, and a short Adriatic coastline. A former Yugoslav republic, it joined the European Union in 2004 and has been relatively successful at transitioning its economy to the free market compared to others with similar history.
Including both mountainous regions and a Mediterranean coastline, Slovenia’s climate is considered temperate. For a small country, it has a large biodiversity with several endemic mammal species, among them marmots, Alpine ibex, and chamois, deer, roe deer, boar, and hares. It is also one of the most forested regions of Europe, with oak, beech, spruce, fir and pine dominating its ecology.
Its largest city is the capital, Ljubljana and Slovene is the language for the vast majority of its population. Other minority languages include Hungarian and Italian. The majority of its population identifies as Catholic.