The Slovak Republic consists of 8 self-governing regions,their governing being in principle independent from the centralgovernment, and 79 districts. The most populated regions are Košiceand Prešov, the population density being the highest in Bratislava self-governing region (294 people/km2).The quality of road infrastructure (above all availability of highways and motorways), FDI inflow and related salaries and unemployment rate still differs significantly from region to region.In general, western regions (Bratislava and Trnava self-governing regions) are more developed than regions of the central (Banská Bystrica region), or eastern Slovakia (Prešov, Košice self-governing region).For instance, the highest unemployment rate and the lowest salaries can be found in Prešov and Banská Bystrica regions while Bratislava and Trnava regions are just the opposite.Due to the more-developed infrastructure (highways, motorways), proximity of Trans-European Transport Networks and destination markets, several foreign investors opted for the western part of Slovakia as the destination for their investment.Žilina, Trnava and Bratislava regions have experienced natural creation of automotive clusters around sites of KIA Motors (town of Žilina), PSA Peugeot (town of Trnava), or Volkswagen (city of Bratislava), while Trnava and Nitra regions are known for their electrotechnical clusters formed around Samsung (towns of Galanta and Voderady) and Foxconn Slovakia (town of Nitra), joined by the site of AU Optronics (town of Trenčín, Trenčín self-governing region).Košice self-governing region, home of the US Steel Košice, has had a long tradition in steel production, chemical industry occurs in the region of Prešov (town of Humenné) and Trenčín (town of Púchov) while wood-processing sites are situated mostly in the central part of the country (Banská Bystrica self-governing region).Regional Overview
