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Most of Slovenia is situated in the Karst plateau and in the Julian Alps. The largely mountainous and forested republic is drained by the Drava and Sava rivers. Ljubljana, Maribor and Celje are the chief cities. The Slovenes constitute nearly all of the population, but there are Hungarian and Italian minorities. They are mostly Roman Catholic. Although farming and livestock raising are the chief occupations, with grains, potatoes, and fruit the main crops, Slovenia is the most industrialized and urbanized of all the former Yugoslav republics. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, Slovenia's economy grew and tourism increased markedly, unimpeded by the warfare that devastated other regions. Iron, steel, aluminum, machine tools, motor vehicles, cement, chemicals, textiles, and leather, as well as light engineering and some electronics, are the main industries. There are mineral resources of oil, coal, and mercury. The country's chief trading partners are Germany, Italy, and Croatia.
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