Migration Trends in Selected Applicant Countries: Volume V Slovak Republic

The research project presented here deals with migration issues of six countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including the Slovak Republic. During the past 2-3 years especially, Slovakia has been undergoing a significant transformation in this area and a multitude of questions related to this change are evidently coming to the foreground. The country has still several attributes typical of a transit country in respect of immigration, though even some signs suggest that it could soon become a favourable target country for migrants. Moreover, sudden inflows of legal and irregular migrants in the very last years have been manifested to an unexpected extent carrying a great acceleration of challenges with it. These concern not only the numbers of migrants proper, but are reflected essentially in the phenomena, processes, mechanisms and trends accompanying migration per se and influencing the life of autochthonous Slovak society in legal, economic, social, cultural, political, demographic, and other dimensions. In the report on Slovakia, following the introductory remarks, firstly a historical overview of migration in the country is outlined as a basis for the following evaluation. Within it, emigration from Slovakia before WW2 is briefly described with its main stages, destination countries, and estimated numbers of migrants. Migration development in the country after WW2 is discussed more in detail. The migration shifts and their reasons in Slovakia soon after the war are illustrated, then developments under 40 years of communism are analysed. The exchange of persons with foreign countries in this period including illegal emigration with its consequences as well as migration with the Czech Republic as a typical pattern of socio-spatial movements of inhabitants within former Czechoslovakia are here assessed.