July 25, 2018
Food waste
Slovenians threw away 74 kilograms of food per capita in 2016, reports the STA, which comes to around 200 grammes a day. Moreover, as much as 35% of that food waste was still eatable, data from the Statistics Office show.
Peels, shells, bones, stones and other uneatable food represented 65% of the food waste which cannot be reduced.
The biggest part of food waste, almost half, was produced in households, followed by catering and food services, food production, and distribution and grocery shops.
Three quarters of the food waste from 2016 was processed with anaerobic digestion in bio-gases (52%) and in composting-plants (26%).
Slovenian bio-gases are situated in Ihan, Lendava, Ižakovci and Bučečovci, and composting-plants are located in Ljubljana, Domžale and Vrhnika.
Alcohol consumption
Consumption of alcohol declined in 2016 but it remains high by international standards, according to a report from the National Institute of Public Health, notes the STA.
On average each Slovenian over 15 drank 87 litres of beer, 48.4 litres of wine and 2.1 litres of liquors in 2016. This is the equivalent of 10.5 litres of pure alcohol, or a litre less than in the year before.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that the average world consumption of alcohol was 6.4 litres of pure alcohol per capita.
The highest consumption, 9.8 litres, is still recorded in the WHO European region which includes Slovenia.
Data for 2016 shows that one in ten Slovenians aged between 25 and 74 years still excessively drinks alcohol, and that one in two engages in high-risk drinking at least once a year.
There is a mistaken belief that beer and wine are less harmful than liquors, Barbara Lovrečič, a public health expert at the institute, was quoted as saying.
All alcoholic drinks are harmful because they contain ethanol. What is more important is how much one drinks, not what, according to her.
Sex, marriage, divorce and death
Slovenia saw a negative rate of natural increase in 2017 after eleven consecutive years of growth. Official statistics show that 20,509 people died and 20,241 were born last year, reports the STA.
A report from the Statistics Office shows that the negative rate was the product of a higher mortality rate in winter. The first quarter of the year (Jan-Mar) saw 1,436 more deaths than births.
The highest number of births and the lowest number of deaths were recorded in the third quarter of the year (Jul-Sept), when 957 more births than deaths were registered.
On average, Slovenia saw 55 births and 56 deaths each day. An average 18 couples a day got married and seven got divorced.
In all of 2017, 6,481 couples got married, which is 2.8% fewer than the year before. Most couples tied the knot in September and July (more than a thousand each month).
January was the least popular month for a wedding with only 182 couples getting married.
The number of divorces rose by 5.7% to 2,387. Most couples (655) got separated in the first quarter of the year.
Slovenia's net migration rate was positive with 52 people on average moving in each day and 48 moving out.
