Publications - Working Papers IER SAS

Since its inception in 1993, the Slovak Republic has undergone transformation from the central planned economy to implementation of the neoliberal market economy and to accession to the European Union. Within two decades the country’s economy fundamentally changed its structure and ownership. The development paradigm shifted towards economic growth and consumer orientated society. Some of the European countries also have experienced similar transformation, on the other hand some have not undergone such fundamental changes. The changes also manifested in environmental impacts which can be measured by indicator of Ecological Footprint. International comparison of Ecological Footprint of Slovakia with a variety of other countries revealed worrying facts. The analysis showed that environmental impacts of Slovakia’s economy have increased significantly and the society has been overshooting its territory biocapacity for a long time. The country’s Ecological Footprint has reached levels of some of the most developed countries and the dynamic of the footprint growth has globally ranked very high. Nevertheless Slovakia still remains among the countries with smaller footprint than the EU’s average.