MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Monday, 6 April 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Sunday, 5 April): BRATISLAVA - One person was injured after inhaling smoke following a warehouse fire on Stara Vajnorska Street in Bratislava. Approximately 150 people were evacuated in total, the Firefighter and Emergency Service (HaZZ) reported on social media. Firefighters said the blaze was reported shortly after 2:00 p.m. It spread from the interior of the single-storey warehouse into the roof structure, with a thermal imaging camera confirming multiple fire sources. "Forty members of the Bratislava Firefighter and Emergency Unit with 11 pieces of equipment were deployed at the scene, together with volunteer fire brigades from the boroughs of Ruzinov, Stare Mesto, Raca, Petrzalka, Rusovce and Ivanka pri Dunaji. Before the firefighters arrived, around 30 people self-evacuated from a neighbouring hostel. Firefighters carried one person out of the building. According to a police estimate, approximately 150 people were evacuated in total," the service reported. The firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze shortly before 5:00 p.m. During the operation, they had to dismantle parts of the roof, and aerial equipment was also used. According to HaZZ, a fire investigator was called to the scene and determined that the cause of the fire was negligent behaviour by an unknown person. BRATISLAVA – Slovakia has faced a population decline for the fifth consecutive year, with the pace of the decrease accelerating further, according to the 2025 demographic development data from the Statistics Office. Mortality stabilised at long-term average levels, but the birth rate fell to a historic low, with even a positive migration balance failing to offset the overall population loss. At the end of 2025, Slovakia had a total population of 5,409,407, a year-on-year decrease of more than 10,000. Since the establishment of the Slovak Republic, the population had grown annually until the trend reversed in 2021, followed by five consecutive years of decline. The development in 2025 marked the second most significant population drop in the country's history, after 2021. "However, although Slovakia's population has been declining in recent years, the overall balance since 1993 remains positive. Over three decades of independence, the country's population has increased by nearly 73,000," said Zuzana Podmanicka, head of the population statistics department. According to the Statistics Office, the main factor behind the population decline in 2025 was natural decrease. During the year, around 42,000 live births were recorded, while more than 53,500 people died. Over the past six years, the country has lost nearly 51,000 inhabitants through natural change. "While in 2021 and 2022 the natural decrease was mainly driven by the coronavirus pandemic, in the past three years the key factor has been the critically low total fertility rate," Podmanicka added. In the past four years, the number of births has fallen annually by between 2,000 and more than 4,000 children. In line with this trend, the crude birth rate also reached record lows, falling to 776 births per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025. "The crude birth rate in Slovakia fell in 2025 to its lowest level in the past 100 years, lower even than during the Second World War," Podmanicka explained. The second factor affecting the total population is international migration. The migration balance (the difference between immigration to and emigration from Slovakia) has long remained positive. In 2025, nearly 6,400 people moved to Slovakia for permanent residence, while more than 4,900 emigrated. "The second highest number of people leaving the country since 1993 led to a renewed drop in the migration balance to just under 1,500 after two years. Since the establishment of the Slovak Republic, the number of immigrants has exceeded the number of emigrants every year, by between 900 and 7,100 people," the Statistics Office noted. However, in the past five years, foreign migration has no longer been sufficient to compensate for population losses caused by natural decrease. BRATISLAVA - The Interior Ministry has purchased five high-performance SUV vehicles with accessories and servicing for more than €353,00, with the Audi cars — to be supplied by Porsche Slovakia — boasting an output of 250 kilowatts, according to a contract published in the Central Registry of Contracts. The ordered vehicles feature a six-cylinder engine with a capacity of 2,995 cubic centimetres. They are equipped with an eight-speed automatic transmission as well as independent heating and air conditioning. The unit price of the vehicles alone exceeds €65,000 including VAT. In addition, the ministry purchased for each vehicle a set of four rims with winter tyres and five-year servicing. The supplier must deliver the cars and accessories within 180 days from the contract taking effect. According to the central register, the contract entered into force on 27 March. BRATISLAVA - The opposition Progressive Slovakia party would have won parliamentary elections in March 2026 with 21.1 percent of the vote, according to polls conducted by Infostat. The governing Smer-SD would have placed second with 20.2 percent, followed by far-right Republic in third with 9.7 percent. The Christian Democratic Movement would have finished fourth with 9.4 percent. According to the survey, it would have been followed by the coalition party Voice-SD with 8.3 percent, Freedom and Solidarity with seven percent, and Democrats with 5.5 percent of the vote. The election result would not have been sufficient for entry into Parliament for the 'Slovakia' party (four percent), Alliance (3.8 percent), the Slovak National Party (3.3 percent), the 'We Are Family' party (1.4 percent), or the 'Right to Truth' party (one percent). Other political entities would have been chosen by less than one percent of respondents. The survey was conducted by Infostat on a representative sample of 1,159 respondents. Data were collected from 9 to 13 March. mf