Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)

3. The settlement structure of Slovakia

The settlement system of Slovakia

Figure 3. Changes in the population in the three most typical settlement groups, 1921-2001

Table 13. Changes in population proportions in the three most typical settlement groups, 1921-2001

1921

1930

1950

1961

1970

1980

1991

2001-1,999

60.1

58.3

55.9

48.0

42.6

33.2

30.7

30.6

2,000-9,999

27.1

27.1

26.1

31.5

29.0

24.1

19.8

20.7

10,000-12.8

14.6

18.0

20.6

28.3

42.7

49.5

48.7

Total population

2,998,239

3,330,885

3,442,312

4,174,050

4,537,285

4,998,168

5,274,335

5,379,455

Source: Štatisticky úrad SR, Bratislava

The proportion of the people living in settlements with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants was halved in eight decades. In settlements with a population of between 2,000 and 10,000 people, the number of the inhabitants showed a tendency to decline; however, it was below 10%. The largest changes occurred in settlements with a population number higher than 10,000 people, because the proportion increased from 12.8% to 48.7%, while the total population rose from 2,998,239 to 5,379,455 people in the same period of time, which is an increase of 179.4%.

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