Workforce Migration Report 2026: Slovakia

Request the report

Turn your screen sideways to read the page at a larger size.

Bratislava at night, the Danube and its bridge seen from the castle
Workforce Migration Report 2026
Slovakia
13,263
First residence permits for work issued in 2025

Contents

In brief

Port cranes

The country

  1. 3

    5.4 million people, fewer each year since 2021

  2. 4

    Deaths outnumber births, and few people move in

 Bratislava at dusk

Where the market is now

  1. 5

    Without Ukrainians, permits are 47 percent above 2019

  2. 6

    4.1 per 1,000 in 2025, about half of Hungary's 8.5

  3. 7

    India leads, Nepal grows fastest

  4. 8

    Sourcing centres received 50.9% in 2025, 8.4% in 2019

  5. 9

    Open for listed trades, 281,000 fewer aged 20 to 64 by 2041

 Tower cranes

The outlook

  1. 10

    About 13,200 permits in 2026, between 8,200 and 20,100

  2. 11

    Origin shares held at 2025, and the estimate's drivers

  3. 11

    What could change this

 Houses in Banská Štiavnica

Method and sources

  1. 12

    How to read this report

  2. 12

    Sources, photographs and flags

Cover: Bratislava at night, the Danube and its bridge seen from the castle. Photograph by Michael Pointner, Pexels.

Slovakia issued 13,263 first residence permits for work in 2025, 7.0 percent more than in 2024. Without Ukrainians, who received 62 percent in 2019 and are now under temporary protection, permits rose from 7,855 in 2019 to 11,561, up 47 percent. That is 4.1 per 1,000 residents aged 20 to 64, against 4.9 across the EU. Slovakia is open for trades on the regional shortage lists: no labour market test, and a police decision within 30 days. Act 128/2026 adds a route from temporary protection. The Central Office of Labour counted 65,048 work permits in use in August 2026, 61 percent more than a year before, so our estimate does not fall: about 13,200 in 2026, level with the 13,263 of 2025; for 2027 the range allows only a direction, flat. In 2031 the count held flat gives 13,200 a year; the working age scenario gives 14,900 and the register's pace, read off that stock, 21,300, both scenarios, not forecasts.

Observed

First residence permits for work in 2025, up 7.0 percent on 2024

13,263
Our estimate

Permits in 2026, 8,200 to 20,100

13,200
Scenario, not a forecast

Permits a year in 2031, working age scenario; held flat 13,200

14,900
Projection of the source

Fewer people aged 20 to 64 by 2041 than in 2026

281,000

5.4 million people, fewer each year since 2021

Slovakia has 5.41 million people, 11,942 fewer than in 2015. The number grew until 2021 and has fallen every year since: deaths have outnumbered births since 2020, and net migration makes up only a small part of the gap. Output per head is 60 percent of the EU average, 75 percent counting lower prices, and Eurostat projects 8.4 percent fewer people aged 20 to 64 by 2041.

Houses in Banská Štiavnica

People living in Slovakia on 1 January 2026

5,409,407

0.2 percent fewer than in 2015, and 1.2 percent of the EU's 452.0 million. People aged 65 and over were 18.8 percent of the population in 2025.

GDP in 2025, billion euro at current prices

136.8

0.7 percent of the EU economy.

GDP per head in 2025

25,060euro

60 percent of the EU average of 41,700 euro in 2025. Counting lower prices at home, 75 percent, down from 78 percent in 2015.

Real growth in 2025

0.8%

Against 1.4 percent across the EU. Over 2021 to 2025 the economy grew 11.4 percent in all, the EU grew 13.7 percent (our estimate from the yearly rates).

People aged 20 to 64 in work, 2025

78.1%

Against 76.1 percent across the EU.

Schengen and the euro

21 December 2007Joins Schengen: checks at land borders end.
1 January 2009The euro replaces the koruna, at 30.1260 koruna per euro.

Sources: Eurostat, demo_gind (population, updated 21 July 2026), nama_10_gdp and nama_10_pc (GDP, updated 21 September 2026), tec00114 (price adjusted GDP per head), tec00115 (growth), lfsi_emp_a (employment), demo_pjanbroad (age). All retrieved 27 September 2026. Figures for 2025 GDP, GDP per head and growth are provisional. Key dates: Council Decision 2007/801/EC (Schengen); European Central Bank, the euro changeover in Slovakia; retrieved 27 September 2026.

Deaths outnumber births, and few people move in

Deaths have outnumbered births every year since 2020, and since 2022 net migration covers only a small part

In 2025, 53,520 people died and 42,019 were born. Net migration added 1,457, so the population fell by 10,044.

Births minus deathsNet migration
−10,00002019202020212022202320242025Births minus deathsNet migrationChange in the populationMoved inMoved out+3,820+3,632+7,4527,0163,384−2,439+4,347+1,9086,7752,428−16,896−8,173−25,0695,7333,395−6,915+995−5,9205,4634,468−5,506+1,401−4,1055,9234,522−7,635+2,399−5,2366,8244,425−11,501+1,457−10,044

Source: Eurostat, demo_gind (updated 21 July 2026), migr_imm1ctz and migr_emi1ctz (moves of a year or more), retrieved 27 September 2026. Net migration includes Eurostat's statistical adjustment. Not published: moves in and out for 2025.

About 5.26 million people by 2041 on Eurostat's projection

Observed to 2026, then Eurostat's 2025 projection in the lighter line. The projection starts at 5,540,960 in 2026, 131,553 above the observed count.

5.2 million5.3 million5.4 million5.5 million5.6 millionEurostat's projection5.42 million in 20155.41 million in 20265.26 million in 20415.27 million, more migration5.24 million, less migration201520202026203120362041

Source: Eurostat, demo_gind (observed, updated 21 July 2026) and proj_25np (EUROPOP2025 baseline and migration tests, updated 11 June 2026), retrieved 27 September 2026.

The share aged 65 and over rises to 25%

0 to 1415 to 6465 and over
2025, observed15.8%65.4%18.8%2041, Eurostat's projection12.3%63.0%24.8%

Source: Eurostat, demo_pjanbroad (2025) and proj_25np (2041), retrieved 27 September 2026.

136.8 billion euro in 2025, and the IMF forecast to 2031

Billion euro, 2025 pricesIMF forecast
100120140160136.8 in 2025152.9 in 203120172.9%20192.3%20215.7%20232.1%20250.8%20271.6%20292.5%20311.8%

Real growth under each year: observed to 2025 (Eurostat, tec00115), the IMF forecast after. Sources: Eurostat, nama_10_gdp (2025 provisional); IMF, World Economic Outlook April 2026; Werklist calculation; retrieved 27 September 2026.

Request the full report

All 13 pages as a PDF, sent to your email.

You are

The language of the PDF you receive.

We send the report to this address.

The country where your company is based.

Select the country code, then enter the number.

When you request this report, we will also email you Werklist report updates: new and revised country reports and short notes on the markets they cover, at most twice a month. You can say no now with the box below, or at any time with the unsubscribe link in every email we send, the first one included.

Page 1 of 13Use the arrow keys, the buttons or swipe to move between pages.Swipe to turn the page. Pinch to zoom.

What this report answers

  • How many first residence permits for work has Slovakia issued each year since 2019?

    13,263 in 2025, 7.0% more than the 12,390 of 2024, against 20,885 in 2019. Without Ukrainians, now under temporary protection, permits rose from 7,855 in 2019 to 11,561, up 47 percent.

  • Which countries do the new hires come from, and which are growing?

    India leads with 1,862 permits in 2025, ahead of Ukraine with 1,702 and Vietnam with 1,469. The Philippines rose to 1,350 and Nepal from 47 to 557; the seven sourcing centres of Werklist received 50.9%, against 8.4% in 2019.

  • How does Slovakia compare with its neighbours per resident?

    4.1 first residence permits for work for every 1,000 residents aged 20 to 64 in 2025, 14th in the EU: below the EU's 4.9 and Hungary's 8.5, above Czechia's 2.8.

  • Which rules apply to employers who hire from abroad?

    A job on the regional shortage lists skips the labour market test if under 45 percent of the employer's staff are from outside the EU, and the police decide within 30 days. The lists are redrawn each quarter, and Act 128/2026 adds a route from temporary protection.

  • How is the working age population changing?

    Eurostat projects 3,330,529 people aged 20 to 64 in 2026 and 3,049,593 in 2041: about 281,000 fewer, a fall of 8.4 percent.

  • How many first residence permits for work do we expect Slovakia to issue in 2026, and what comes after?

    About 13,200 in 2026, level with 2025, between 8,200 and 20,100, as work permits in use rose 61 percent in the year to August 2026. For 2027 the direction is flat. In 2031 the count held flat gives 13,200 a year and the working age scenario, not a forecast, 14,900.

The full report answers each question with its figures, charts and sources. Request the full report