The

Bratislava Region The Bratislava Region ( sk, Bratislavský kraj, , german: Pressburger/Bratislavaer Landschaftsverband (until 1919), hu, Pozsonyi kerület) is one of the administrative regions of Slovakia. Its capital is Bratislava. The region was first esta ...

is the wealthiest and economically most important region in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, despite being the smallest by area and having the second smallest population of the eight Slovak regions. The majority of governmental institutions, including the Ministry of Finance and the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a centra ...

, as well as many Slovak private companies and subsidiaries of multinational companies in Slovakia have their headquarters in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

. More than 75% of Bratislava's population works in the

service sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, mainly composed of

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exc ...

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

, IT, telecommunication industry,

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

and others. Major factories in Bratislava include the

Slovnaft Slovnaft is an oil refining company in Slovakia. The company, located in Bratislava, is a subsidiary of MOL Group. History Slovnaft is the successor of the Apollo company. Apollo was established in 1895 in Bratislava Bratislava (, als ...

oil refinery and the

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

Bratislava plant. The

Bratislava Stock Exchange Bratislava Stock Exchange ( Slovak: Burza cenných papierov v Bratislave, abbr. BSSE, BCPB) is a Stock Exchange in Bratislava, that began its existence on 15 March 1991 according to adjudication of Ministry of Finance of Slovakia in 1990. BSSE is ...

(BSSE), the organiser of the public market of securities, was founded on March 15, 1991.

Budget

has a balanced budget of almost six billion Slovak korunas (€182 million) as of 2007. One fifth of that is used for investment. Bratislava holds shares in 17 companies directly, for example in the public transport company ( Dopravný podnik Bratislava), the waste collection and disposal company, the water utility and others. The city also manages municipal organisations such as the City

Police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...

(''Mestská polícia''),

Bratislava City Museum The Bratislava City Museum ( sk, Múzeum mesta Bratislavy, abbr. MMB) is a museum in Bratislava, Slovakia, established in 1868. Its headquarters are located in the Old Town, near the Main Square at the Old Town Hall. The museum is owned by one of ...

, ZOO Bratislava, etc.

GDP

The

is the wealthiest and economically most prosperous region of Slovakia, despite being the smallest by area and having the second smallest population of the eight Slovak regions. It accounts for about 26% of the Slovak GDP. The GDP per capita ( PPP) is 188% (2016) of the EU average which is the fifth highest of all regions in the EU member states. Statistics are though deformed by centralisation in Slovakia, where almost all governmental institutions as well as private companies in the country have their headquarters in the capital and by lower number of official inhabitants as compared to estimates. The

primary sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy ...

is represented only with a share of 0.9% in the region, that is, one fifth of the share observed at the national level (4.5%). The

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construc ...

accounts for 20.3%, that is 11.5 percentage points under the share in the

Foreign investments

More than 60% of all direct foreign investments in

are located in the

. A car manufacturer

Slovakia was established in Bratislava in 1991 subsequent to acquiring Škoda Auto and has expanded since. Currently, its production focuses on

sport utility vehicle A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon defini ...

s, which represent 68% of all production.

VW Touareg The Volkswagen Touareg (German pronunciation: ) is a car produced by German automaker Volkswagen Group since 2002 at the Volkswagen Bratislava Plant. A five-seater mid-size luxury crossover SUV, the vehicle was named after the nomadic Tuareg p ...

is finished and Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7 are partially built there. In recent years service and

high-tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

oriented businesses are thriving in Bratislava. Many global companies, including IBM,

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, business solutions, and related se ...

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

, SAP, and

Accenture Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentu ...

, are building their

outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

and service centres or have plans to build in the near future here.

Overview of biggest companies

Other important companies and big employers with headquarters in Bratislava include: * IT companies - BGS Distribution, Asbis SK,

, Hewlett-Packard Slovakia, ESET,

, IBM,

Sygic Sygic ( ) is a Slovak company of global automotive navigation systems for mobile phones and tablets. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia. It became the first company to offer navigation for iPhone and sec ...

Pixel Federation Pixel Federation, Ltd. is a Slovak game developer and publisher focusing on mobile and social networking platforms. It was founded in 2007 with headquarters in Bratislava, Slovakia. Notable titles they have published include Diggy's Adventure, ...

Telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

companies - Slovak Telekom (owner of

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic ( T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland ( T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobil ...

Slovensko),

Orange Slovensko Orange Slovensko, a.s. is a Slovak mobile network operator, also offering fibre connections, since 15 January 1997 (previously named Globtel), when it became the first mobile operator in Slovakia to operate the GSM digital mobile network at the 90 ...

, Slovanet, O₂, * Financial institutions - Slovenská sporiteľňa, Všeobecná úverová banka, Tatra banka, UniBanka,

Allianz Allianz ( , ) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. The company is one of the world's largest insurers and financial services groups. Th ...

– Slovenská poisťovňa, Kooperativa poisťovňa,

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria ...

Construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

companies -

Doprastav Doprastav a.s. is a Slovak construction company, which was established in 1953. The company focuses mainly on transportation construction - roads, bridges and railways. An example of their construction is the Apollo Bridge in Bratislava. It has ...

, ZIPP Bratislava,

Strabag STRABAG SE is an Austrian construction company based in Spittal an der Drau, Austria, with its headquarters in Vienna. It is the largest construction company in Austria and one of the largest construction companies in Europe. The company is act ...

Chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

and

Pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

companies - Slovak's largest

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liq ...

, Henkel Slovensko *

Utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosophe ...

companies -

Slovenský plynárenský priemysel Slovenský plynárenský priemysel, a.s. (abbr. SPP; Slovak: literally Slovak Gas Industry) is a state-owned energy supplier headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia. The company follows on from over 150 years of gas industry in Slovakia. It is ...

(literally Slovak Gas Industry), Slovenské elektrárne (Slovak Electric company), Západoslovenská energetika (Electricity distribution company) *

Food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is in ...

companies -

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arran ...

Slovakia, Palma-Tumys, Rajo *

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

companies - Whirlpool Slovakia, Johnson Controls International, SAS Automotive *

Car manufacturers This is a list of notable automobile manufacturers with articles on Wikipedia by country. It includes companies that are in business as well as defunct manufacturers. Only companies that have articles here are included. A Algeria * SNVI ...

companies -

Slovakia,

Kia Motors Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...

PSA Peugeot Citroën The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...

Travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

companies - Satur Travel *

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

ation companies -

Železnice Slovenskej republiky Railways of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Železnice Slovenskej republiky, acronym: ''ŽSR'') is the state-owned railway infrastructure company of Slovakia. The company was established in 1993 as the successor to the Czechoslovak State Railways ( ...

, Cargo Slovakia, Dopravný podnik Bratislava *

Retailing Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

companies -

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

Stores Slovak Republic *

Real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

companies - JTRE, Penta Real Estate

Industry

Historically, Bratislava was among the most industrialized and developed cities within the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

and most of this heritage was destroyed during the 20th and 21st centuries. Despite Bratislava region being the first region in Slovakia where trade and services have overtaken industrial production there are several major industrial facilities in the city. The main sectors include the chemical, automotive, engineering, electrotechnical and food-processing industries. Major industrial facilities include:

oil refinery,

Bratislava factory and the

Port of Bratislava The Port of Bratislava ( sk, Prístav Bratislava) is a major port on the river Danube and — in a wider sense — on the Rhine-Main-Danube waterway, located in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is a universal inland port consisting of two ...

Construction boom

The Slovak economy's strong growth in the 2000s has led to a boom in the construction industry, and several major projects have been completed in or are planned for Bratislava. Areas attracting developers include the Danube riverfront, with two major projects already under construction: River Park in the Old Town, and Eurovea near the

Apollo Bridge Apollo Bridge ( sk, Most Apollo, provisionally known as ''Most Košická'' during construction, after the street leading to it) in Bratislava is a road bridge over the Danube in the capital of Slovakia. It is located between the Starý most and P ...

. Other locations under development include the areas around the main railway and bus stations, around the former industrial zone near the Old Town, and in the boroughs of Petržalka and Ružinov. It is expected that investors will spend €1.2 billion on new projects by 2010. See also List of tallest buildings in Bratislava.

Education

Around 38% of all university educated people in the country are concentrated in Bratislava. The potential of the qualified population with a university or college education is utilised to the level of 94%.

References

External links

Facts and figures
2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Economy Of Bratislava