DEMOGRAPHERS predict that by 2050 the Slovak population will drop to below five million from the current 5.4 million.
Although the number of births has been increasing for the last three years by around 2,000 per year, this rate is still not enough to secure population growth, the Pravda daily wrote.
Demographers predict that young people will continue to postpone having children or will not have children at all.
Although the number of marriages has been increasing over the last few years, divorces are also increasingly common.
The rising number of divorces is partially responsible for the fact that ever more people in Slovakia live alone or in non-marital partnerships rather than wedlock.
