The economic development of Slovakia, as well as other former socialist countries, was largely marked by the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. This process was long and difficult. Post-socialist countries were forced to adopt a broad complex of political, social, economic and institutional reforms that made the business environ­ment in the country more attractive and strengthened economic growth. This process of transformation continues and despite progress there is room for further improvement even in the most developed post-socialist coun­tries. In addition, the economy of individual countries, as well as the world economy, is currently significantly affected by the ongoing pandemic, and it has also been negatively affected by the war conflict in Ukraine and the emerging energy crisis. In the article, we will focus on evaluating and comparing the development and economic situation of former socialist countries that have since become members of the European Union. Based on selected macroeconomic indica­tors, we will assess the level of the economy of individual countries. Subse­quently, we will use the ranking method and compile and evaluate the rank­ing of the analyzed countries.

In Slovakia, the share of women in the total population of the Slo­vak Republic is slightly above 50%. Women entrepreneurs in Slovakia are still somewhat the exception rather than the rule. Their approach to entrepre­neurship is not the same as that of men and women’s entrepreneurial story is often linked to their personal lives. Women’s entrepreneurship is a hot top­ic at the moment and by analysing it, it is possible to find out what are the characteristics, qualities, motives and factors influencing women’s entrepre­neurial activity in the Slovak Republic. The aim of our paper is to evaluate, through the analysis and development of statistical indicators, the position of women in the labour market in the Slovak Republic not only in terms of numbers but also in relation to the labour market (number of economically active women, employment, unemployment of women in the Slovak Repub­lic) and also the degree of women’s involvement in entrepreneurial activities in order to obtain a comprehensive view of the representation of women in the entrepreneurial environment in the Slovak Republic.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are typical of the tourism sector, they are adaptable and able to meet individual as well as specific consumer demands. This paper analyses the sectoral and regional structure of tourism SMEs (exactly how many of them are in the sector, where they are located and what economic activity they carry out within the tourism sec­tor). The analysis of the structure will provide a sufficient picture of which sectors most SMEs operate in and in which region these SMEs are located. A subsequent comparison of the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods will reveal changes in the status and development of SMEs in the service and tourism sectors in Slovakia. And then statistical methods of forecasting de­velopment trends will make it possible to outline the possible future direc­tion of the development of SMEs in Slovakia after the end of the pandemic.

A social enterprise, which is part of the social economy, provides goods and services to the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative way and uses its profits primarily to achieve its social objectives. Social enterpris­es are also important for the national economy in terms of regional devel­opment. Through social enterprises and other social economy actors, the employment of disadvantaged and vulnerable people is promoted, there­by strengthening social, economic and territorial cohesion. The paper is de­voted to a quantitative assessment of the state and development of social entrepreneurship in the Slovak Republic. It also focuses on the analysis of the development of a number of indicators in the field of unemployment, which reinforce the importance and need for social enterprises in the econ­omy. Then, the paper deals with SWOT analysis, which allows for identifying the basic prerequisites for further development of social entrepreneurship in the Slovak Republic

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