Regional Development in Slovenia

Abstract

This chapter describes the current status of Slovenia’s regional development, focusing on both regional and municipal development. The data show large regional differences, with less-developed regions in Eastern Slovenia and more developed ones in Western Slovenia. The chapter also presents the history of Slovenian regional policy, which has gone through three stages since 1971: a period of promoting the development of less-developed areas until 1990, a period of promoting the development of demographically threatened areas until 1999, and a period of endogenous regional policy after 1999. Despite the regional differences identified and its relatively early introduction, regional policy has had limited success due to limited funds, which is manifested in the fact that the status of less-developed areas is largely held by one and the same areas. An important factor rendering regional policy less effective is also the absence of administrative regions, with individual municipalities tailoring the regional policy to their own needs. On the one hand, this has reduced the value of regional policy, but on the other it has also contributed to better infrastructure in individual municipalities.