Country Comments

Like its cousin Slovakia, Slovenia has had below replacement fertility levels for over three decades and for the last ten years has essentially stabilized its population level which is roughly twice as large as can be sustained with current available renewable resources.

For a small country Slovenia has been able to preserve much of its natural forests. The current government has attempted to support economic growth at the expense of the environment such as in a proposed hydro electric plant in a nature protected site that in February 2021 the administrative courts struck down in favor of protecting the fragile ecosystem and threatened species. In a referendum, voters in July 2021 overwhelmingly supported a clean water management law and rejected changes to it that would worsen water quality. If the country embraces a culture of growing smaller coupled with its environmental activism, Slovenia could soon be turning the tide to a more sustainable future.