Municipalities in numbers
The first forms of local self-government in the territory of the present-day Slovenia date back to the middle of the 19th century, when, in 1850, following the March Revolution and adoption of the constitution, the first municipal councils were elected. Since then, municipalities have functioned in different forms and sizes throughout different periods.
A century later, in 1955, municipalities were abolished and replaced by socio-political communities in accordance with the regime at the time. After Slovenia gained independence and a new constitution was adopted, modern local self-government was once again in place in 1994.
Map of Municipalities | Author Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia
Size of municipalities and number of inhabitants
Slovenian municipalities vary considerably among each other. They bring together approximately six thousand settlements, of which every hundredth settlement has no inhabitants. Out of 212 Slovenian municipalities, more than half of them have fewer than five thousand inhabitants and only a sixth of the entire population of Slovenia lives in these municipalities. On the other hand, almost a fifth of all Slovenian citizens live in two urban municipalities, in Ljubljana and Maribor. The two smallest municipalities have only a few hundred inhabitants, whereas more than a third of Slovenia's population lives in just twelve urban municipalities. Every third municipality borders on one of Slovenian’s four neighbouring countries.
Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS) publishes detailed statistical data on population size and age structure, as well as other interesting data about the Slovenian population on its website.
Associations of Municipalities of Slovenia: Association of Municipalities and towns of Slovenia (SOS), Association of Municipalities of Slovenia (ZOS) and Association of Urban Municipalities of Slovenia (ZMOS).
Historic overview of Slovenian municipalities
On the basis of the Slovenian constitution enacted in 1991, 147 municipalities were established in October 1994 by following the European model, and replaced 62 socio-political communities. State functions previously carried out by former, territorially larger municipalities were delegated to administrative units, and local functions were taken over by the new bodies of the new municipalities.
Four years later, the number of municipalities rose to 192, and then to 193 in 2002. In 2006, the number of municipalities in Slovenia reached 210, and the last two municipalities were established in 2011 – those were the municipalities of Mirna and Ankaran. Today, there are 212 municipalities in Slovenia, 11 of which are urban municipalities.