The population of Slovenia at the 1991 census was 1,962,606. In 2001 the country had an estimated population of 1,930,132, giving it an overall population density of 95 persons per sq km (247 per sq mi). Slovenes, a Slavic ethnic group, constitute about 88 percent of the republic’s population.
More than 90 percent of Slovenia's people are ethnically Slovene. German speakers, who formed the elite during the Habsburg era, vanished entirely after World War II. The 1954 agreement over Trieste has left a few thousand Italian speakers in Istria, and Prekmurje has a small Hungarian minority. These autochthonous Italians and Magyars enjoy legally guaranteed rights, including parliamentary representation.
