Strategically located between Central Europe and the Western Balkans, with excellent infrastructure and a well-educated labor force, Slovenia is an attractive trade and investment partner for companies across a wide range of sectors. After gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, Slovenia rapidly registered dramatic gains in per capita and aggregate wealth, established a stable and well-functioning democracy, and significantly raised Slovenians’ standard of living. Slovenia joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) in 2004, the Eurozone and the Schengen Zone in 2007, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Europe (OECD) in 2010.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Slovenia’s economic growth outpaced that of most other EU member states, and it enjoyed rising incomes, growing domestic consumption, falling unemployment, low inflation rates, and burgeoning consumer confidence. However, in the past few years, Slovenia has been experiencing labor shortages and rising inflation and energy prices, causing a downturn in economic growth, at 2.1 percent in 2023 and 1.6 percent in 2024. With a small domestic market of just over two million people, Slovenia’s economy is heavily dependent on foreign trade and susceptible to economic conditions among its larger trading partners. In its spring 2025 outlook, the Institute for Macroeconomic Development and Analysis (IMAD) forecasted 2.1. percent growth in 2025 and 2.4 percent growth in 2026. In September 2025, IMAD revised its yearly growth forecast downward to 0.8 percent, mainly due to weaker exports caused by broader challenges in the European economy, especially in German industry.
Slovenia is not a major trading partner for the United States, accounting for less than 0.1 percent of U.S. exports (USD 332 million) and less than 0.2 percent of U.S. imports (USD 5.9 billion) in 2024. Seventy-five percent of Slovenia’s foreign trade is with the EU, primarily Germany, Italy, Austria, Croatia, and France. Slovenia also has extensive trade ties with non-EU Western Balkan and Eastern European countries.
Outside the EU, Switzerland, Serbia, Russia and the United States are Slovenia’s largest export markets, and Switzerland and China are its most important import suppliers. U.S. exports to Slovenia include machinery and mechanical appliances; optical, medical, and measuring instruments; aircraft and their parts; electrical machinery and equipment; and pharmaceutical products, while Slovenia primarily exports pharmaceuticals to the United States, as well as machinery, mechanical appliances and equipment.
According to the Bank of Slovenia, foreign investment in Slovenia totaled EUR 23 billion in 2024, a 3.6 percent increase over the previous year. Slovenia’s most important sources for foreign direct investment were Austria (21.2 percent), Luxembourg (15.8 percent), Switzerland (12.1 percent), Germany (8.5 percent), and Croatia (7.7 percent). U.S. companies accounted for approximately 5.7 percent of inward foreign investment in 2023, with EUR 148.5 million invested directly and an additional EUR 1.1 billion invested indirectly through U.S. subsidiaries in other European countries. This combined investment of EUR 1.25 billion placed the United States as Slovenia’s sixth largest source of direct and indirect foreign investment, behind Austria (EUR 3.1 billion), Germany (EUR 3 billion), Hungary (EUR 2 billion), Switzerland (EUR 2 billion), and Italy (EUR 1.9 billion). The most important sectors for foreign investment were manufacturing (33.5 percent), financial and insurance activities (21.2 percent), wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (17.8 percent).
Visit the State Department’s website for background on Slovenia’s political and economic environment.