Slovenia's population increased last year thanks to foreigners, which now represent 9% of Slovenia's entire population, official statistics show.

Slovenia had 2,116,972 residents on 1 January 2023, 9,792 more than a year earlier. While the number of Slovenian citizens decreased by nearly 7,600, the number of foreign citizens increased by 17,400, shows a report from the Statistics Office.

The share of foreigners in Slovenia's population has been increasing steadily over the past decade. In 2012 they represented just over 4% and in 2021 8% of the population, with the share increasing to 9% at the start of this year.

Almost 80% of all foreigners are from the countries of the former Yugoslavia and just over 12% are from EU countries with the remaining 8% coming from other countries.

Last year, the number of Ukrainian citizens increased the most, by almost 6,100 or 250%, which would be from 2,440 to 8,540.

The number of new arrivals almost doubled in the last quarter of 2022 compared to the same period the year before to 13,481. This has to do with the government extending the validity of the temporary protection status for displaced persons from Ukraine until 4 March 2024.

This means that persons with temporary protection status and registered residence have fulfilled the condition of at least one year's residence in Slovenia and thus qualify as Slovenian residents.

According to this criterion, almost 6,000 Ukrainians who arrived in Slovenia since the beginning of the war were classified as residents of Slovenia in the last quarter of last year.

In the last quarter of 2022, the birth to death ratio per 1000 people was at -3.2, which compares to -3.9 the year before. The number of births dropped by 10% and the number of deaths declined by 12%.