Regions of Slovakia


Since 1949, Slovakia has been divided into a number of kraje. Their number, borders and functions have been changed several times. There are eight regions of Slovakia and they correspond to the EU's NUTS 3 level of local administrative units. Each kraj consists of okresy, which are further divided into List of municipalities and towns in Slovakia. There are 79 districts.

List

After a period without kraje and without any equivalent, the kraje were reintroduced in 1996. As for administrative division, Slovakia has been subdivided into 8 kraje since 31 December :
Since 2002, Slovakia is divided into 8 samosprávne kraje, which are called by the Constitution vyššie územné celky, abbr. VÚC. The territory and borders of the self-governing regions are identical with the territory and borders of the kraje. Therefore, the word "kraj" can be replaced by "VÚC" or "samosprávny kraj" in each case in the above list. The main difference is that organs of samosprávne kraje are self-governing, with an elected chairperson and assembly, while the organs of kraje are appointed by the government.

Name

The term "Region" should not be confused with:

History

Prior to 1949

Historically, Slovakia was not divided into kraje, but into counties. This was the case when present-day Slovakia was part of:
In 1928–1939, Slovakia as a whole formed the administrative unit "Slovak land" within Czechoslovakia.

24 December 1948/1 January 1949 – 30 June 1960

  • Bratislavský kraj
  • Banskobystrický kraj
  • Košický kraj
  • Nitriansky kraj
  • Prešovský kraj
  • Žilinský kraj
Each kraj was named after its principal city.

1 July 1960 – 19 December 1990

  • Stredoslovenský kraj
  • Východoslovenský kraj
  • Západoslovenský kraj
  • Bratislava
Note: The kraje were abolished from 1 July 1969, until 28 December 1970, when they were reintroduced.

Traditional regions

There are also other regions in Slovakia, which do not correspond to historical counties:
RegionFormer County partFormer County
KysucenorthernŽilina
ZáhoriewesternNitra
ZáhoriewesternBratislava
southernZvolen
ZamagurienorthernSpiš