Location, area, geographical conditions

Trenčiansky kraj, with an area of 4 501.8 km² and with the share of 9.2% on the Slovak Republic territory, is one of the smaller regions. It is located in the northwest of Slovakia. The western part of the region is formed by the state border with the Czech Republic. The south of the region borders with the regions Trnavský kraj and Nitriansky kraj, the east with Banskobystrický kraj and the north with Žilinský kraj.

The territory of the region extends over the areas of Vonkajšie flyšové Karpaty, Fatransko–tatranská oblast area, Podunajská nížina lowland and Vtáčnik mountain as a part of Slovenské Stredohorie mountain range. From the Vonkajšie Západné Karpaty area the mountains Biele Karpaty and Javorníky as well as Myjavská pahorkatina hills and Považské podolie valley extend here. From the Fatransko-tatranská oblast area the mountains Malé Karpaty, Považský Inovec, Strážovské vrchy, Súľovské skaly, Žiar and Tríbeč as well as Hornonitrianska kotlina basin are part of the region. Podunajská pahorkatina hills as a component of Podunajská nížina lowland are also on the territory of Trenčiansky kraj. The highest point of the region is Vtáčnik hill with the height 1 345 m above sea level. The lowest point is the place where Biskupický kanál channel leaves the territory of the region.

The surface of the area is significantly rugged. The mountains are separated by valleys and basins. River flows are accompanied by strips of plains. Považské Podolie, Podunajská pahorkatina, and Hornonitrianska kotlina belong to the warm climatic zone. Other areas of the region with increasing altitude moved from moderately warm to cold climate zone. Váh river flows through the western part of the region, its right side tributaries are rivers Biela Voda, Vlára, and Drietomica. The eastern part of the region is drained by Nitra river, and its tributaries Bebrava, Nitrica and Handlovka. The largest water dam is built on Vah river is near Nosice.

Mineral wealth is characterized by great diversity of raw material species. In the Horná Nitra area, there are deposits of brown coal and lignite in Handlová and Nováky. There are deposits of bauxite near Mojtín and Strážovské vrchy hill. In the vicinity of the Zlatníky municipality are found small amounts of magnetite. From mineral resources are important building materials such as dolomites, limestone, building stone, calcareous clay, cement raw material, gravel, brick clay and ornamental stone. The deposit of cement raw materials in Horné Sŕnie is significant.

There is an extensive network of protected areas in the region. There are five protected landscape areas: Ponitrie, Strážovské vrchy, Biele Karpaty, Malé Karpaty, and Kysuce, 12 national nature reserves, 52 nature reserves, 4 protected areas, 73 natural monuments, 3 national natural monuments – caves Čachtická jaskyňa and Prepoštská jaskyňa and Lánce - limestone terrace and five special protection areas.

According to the territorial-administrative arrangement in accordance with the Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No 221/1996 Coll. is divided into 9 districts: Bánovce nad Bebravou, Ilava, Myjava, Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Partizánske, Považská Bystrica, Prievidza, Púchov, and Trenčín. The largest district Prievidza occupies more than a fifth of the region. The smallest district, with the share 6.7%, is Partizánske.

The region consists of 276 municipalities, 18 of them have the town status.  More than half of regional population (54.7%) lives in the towns. The most inhabitants occupied the centre of the region – Trenčín (55 000 inhabitants), which is not as dominant as the other centres of the regions. Other larger cities are Prievidza (46 thous. inhabitants) and Považská Bystrica (39 thous. inhabitants).

Demographic background

According to the number of inhabitants, Trenčiansky kraj was one of the smaller regions within Slovakia. The population of the region as at December, 31 2019 reached value 584 569. This represented 10.7 % of the Slovak population. The population density per 1 km² was 130 inhabitants. The flatter areas in the northwest and southeast (Považské podolie valley, Hornonitrianska kotlina basin, Nitrianska niva flood plain and Bánovská pahorkatina hills) were densely populated. The mountains located mainly along the perimeter of the region (mountains: Biele Karpaty, Javorníky, Strážovské vrchy, Tríbeč, Vtáčnik, and Považský Inovec) are significantly sparsely populated. From view of districts, the most populated was Trenčín district (170 inhabitants per 1 km²), the most sparsely populated was Bánovce nad Bebravou district (79 inhabitants per 1 km²).

The demographic development has been influenced by the economic and social changes in society. It is characterized by a slowdown in the process of population reproduction. In 2019, 5 329 children were born in the region and a 6 031 inhabitants died.

Regional population was ageing (ageing index – 131.9). Although the child (pre-productive) component of the population has grown slightly during the last five years, the share of the population over 65 years has grown 3.4 times faster. In 2019 the average age of population reached 42.8 years.

In the same year, 3 193 couples were married and 1 029 marriages were divorced. The growth of nuptiality reached its peak in 2017. Since 2018 it has been declining. Divorces have had slightly declining tendency since 2014.

Economic and social specifics

Trenčiansky kraj has an industrial-agricultural character, which places high demands on the availability of labour force. In 2019 the economically active population accounted for 50.6 %. The rate of economic activity was equal 58.7 %. Since 2013 the employment rate has risen to 71 %, the unemployment rate has been declining over the same period, and it was the second-lowest rate in Slovakia (2.9 %) in 2019. The level of the average nominal monthly earnings was 6.5 % lower than the average for Slovakia and reached EUR 1 180.

Within business statistics, there were registered 19.5 thous. enterprises and 36.8 thous. natural persons, of which 34.4 thousand were self-employed persons in the region at the end of 2019. The enterprises focused their activities primarily in the sector of ​​wholesale, retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles. Self-employed persons run their business mainly in the construction. A large part of enterprises and self-employed persons also operated in the sectors of manufacturing and professional, scientific and technical activities.

The volume of regional GDP represented the value of EUR 8 060 million and accounted for 9% of national GDP in 2018. The regional GDP recalculated per capita reached EUR 13 742 at current prices and was by 16.6% lower than the national average. According to economic activities, the largest share on regional gross value added belonged to industry (28.7 %). The proportion of the public administration and defence, compulsory social security, human health and social activities was 20.6 %, the share of trade, transport, accommodation and food service were 19.4 %.

Agricultural land occupies two-fifths of the total area. In terms of agricultural production, there are different growing conditions in the region. In the lower and warmer parts of the region, barley, sugar-beet and wheat are particularly cultivated. Potatoes are growing in higher altitudes. Meadows and pastures are used for cattle breeding.

There is appreciable diversity in the industry. This sector is represented by mechanical and electrical engineering, mining, textile and clothing industry as well as industrial production of glass, leather and food. In 2019, turnover of industrial enterprises reached EUR 11.5 billion. The sector employed 91 243 persons. This corresponds to the highest employment in the branch of industry within other regions.

In 2019, construction production carried out by own employees amounted EUR 486 mil. and contractually agreed construction production reached EUR 607 mil.  Trenčiansky kraj ranked between regions with average prosperity. There were 1 664 new flats built, most of them were located in Trenčín district.

From the transport point of view, the road and railway routes leading to Považie are important. The main railway line Bratislava – Žilina – Košice runs through the territory. A motorway bypass as a part of the D1 motorway passing through the entire Považie area was built around Trenčín. Road and rail connections to the Czech Republic are also important. The regional road network consists of 1 884 km of roads, motorways and expressways make up 5.3%. There were registered 349 090 motor vehicles at district traffic inspectorates. More than 72 % of them were passenger cars.

Education was provided by the network of school facilities, which consisted of 292 kindergartens, 194 basic schools, 18 grammar schools and 37 secondary vocational schools in 2019. The University of A. Dubček in Trenčín and the DTI University in Dubnica nad Váhom represented regional higher education.

In 1 370 health care facilities, which also included 10 hospitals, 1 045 outpatient health care facilities and two institutes for treatment was health care provided in 2019. Thanks to the rich occurrence of mineral and thermal springs, the region offers the spa treatment in Trenčianske Teplice (musculoskeletal and nervous diseases), Nimnica (cardiovascular, gynaecological, respiratory and digestive diseases) and Bojnice (gynaecological and urinary diseases).

In 2019, visitors had 2 galleries, 20 museums, and 199 libraries available. There are many historical monuments interesting for tourist, as the castle in Trenčín (with an inscription on the castle rock, dates from 179 AD and documents the northernmost occurrence of Romans in Europe), castle in Bojnice as well as the ruins of the castles in municipalities Topoľčianky, Uhrovec, Beckov, Čachtice, and Tematín. ZOO in Bojnice, the burial-mound of M. R. Štefánik on Bradlo hill and Ľudovít Štúr’s birthplace in Uhrovec. Natural beauties like Súľovské skaly rocks and Manínska tiesňava gorge are attractive too. Although the number of visitors was one of the lower within Slovakia, 327 accommodation facilities provided their services to 420 thousand visitors in 2019.