🇸🇮 Slovenia

Median age 44.9 and old-age dependency of 34.9% place Slovenia among the older EU states, with fertility well below replacement. Youth unemployment rising from 11.2% to 15.2% while headline unemployment stays 'low' only because working-age Slovenians are emigrating to Austria, Germany, and Italy in significant numbers — partially masked by immigration from Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo filling the bottom rungs. This is not a healthy labour market; it is a brain exchange where Slovenia loses its educated youth and imports less-skilled labour, accelerating structural decay.

Slovenia adopted an AI strategy in 2021 largely following EU templates, with nominal commitments to digitalization but no meaningful industrial policy to compete with German dependency. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan allocates token amounts to digitalization while actual implementation lags Estonia by a decade. No serious AI/automation policy exists — just the standard 'ethical AI' rhetoric that signals Brussels compliance without substance. SMEs in the automotive supply chain have no transition pathway for EV/automation disruption.