Population

According to the 2001 census, the city had 428,672 inhabitants (the estimate for 2005 is 425,459). The average population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 1,157 inhabitants/km² (2,997/mi²). The most populous district is Bratislava V

Bratislava V

Bratislava V is an okres of Bratislava in the Bratislava Region of Slovakia. It is the largest Bratislava district and covers southern areas of Bratislava, including the boroughs of Petržalka, Jarovce, Rusovce and Čunovo. It is bordered by the Danube river to the north and east, which forms its...

 with 121,259 inhabitants, followed by Bratislava II

Bratislava II

The Bratislava II is an okres of Bratislava in the Bratislava Region of Slovakia. It covers south-eastern part of Bratislava, including the boroughs of Ružinov, Podunajské Biskupice and Vrakuňa. It is bordered by the Bratislava I, Bratislava III, Bratislava V and Senec districts....

 with 108,139, Bratislava IV

Bratislava IV

Bratislava IV is an okres of Bratislava in the Bratislava Region of Slovakia. It covers the north-western parts of Bratislava, including the boroughs of Devín, Devínska Nová Ves, Dúbravka, Karlova Ves, Lamač and Záhorská Bystrica....

 with 93,058, Bratislava III

Bratislava III

Bratislava III is an okres of Bratislava in the Bratislava Region of Slovakia. The district includes the boroughs of Nové Mesto, Rača and Vajnory. It has an area of 75 km² and 61,418 inhabitants. It is bordered by the Bratislava I, Bratislava II, Bratislava IV, Pezinok and Senec districts....

 with 61,418 and Bratislava I

Bratislava I

Bratislava I is a district in the city of Bratislava. It is identical with its sole borough, Bratislava's Old Town . It is completely surrounded by other Bratislava districts: Bratislava II, Bratislava III, Bratislava IV and Bratislava V....

 with 44,798. The largest ethnic groups in 2001 were Slovaks

Slovaks

The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...

 with 391,767 inhabitants (91.37% of the city population), followed by Hungarians with 16,541 (3.84%) and Czechs with 7,972 (1.86%). Other ethnic groups are Germans

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 (1200, 0.28%), Moravians

Moravians (ethnic group)

Moravians are the modern West Slavic inhabitants of the historical land of Moravia, the easternmost part of the Czech Republic, which includes the Moravian Slovakia. They speak the two main groups of Moravian dialects , the transitional Bohemian-Moravian dialect subgroup and standard Czech...

 (635, 0.15%), Croats

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

 (614, 0.14%), Ruthenes (461, 0.11%), Ukrainians

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 (452, 0.11%), Roma (417, 0.08%), and Poles

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 (339, 0.08%).

Historical population

Year	Population	Year	Population	Year	Population
1720	11,000	1880	48,000	1950	184,400
1786	31,700	1900	61,500	1961	241,800
1802	29,600	1910	78,200	1970	291,100
1820	34,400	1921	93,200	1980	380,300
1846	40,200	1930	123,800	1991	442,197
1869	46,500	1939	138,500	2001	428,672

Ethnic history

Ethnic group	Population
Slovaks Slovaks The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...	60,013
Germans Germans The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....	32,801
Hungarians	18,890
Jewish	4,747
Rusyns Ruthenians The name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...	199
Other Other The Other or Constitutive Other is a key concept in continental philosophy; it opposes the Same. The Other refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is Other than the initial concept being considered...	247

Ethnic group	Population
Germans Germans The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....	32,790
Hungarians	31,705
Slovaks Slovaks The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...	11,673
Croats Croats Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...	351
Serbs Serbs The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...	24
Other Other The Other or Constitutive Other is a key concept in continental philosophy; it opposes the Same. The Other refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is Other than the initial concept being considered...	1,638
from these Jewish	8,207

From the city's origin until the 19th century, Germans were the dominant ethnic group. However, after the Compromise of 1867, an active Magyarization

Magyarization

Magyarization is a kind of assimilation or acculturation, a process by which non-Magyar elements came to adopt Magyar culture and language due to social pressure .Defiance or appeals to the Nationalities Law, met...

policy took place, and by the end of World War I Bratislava was a German-Hungarian town, with Slovaks as the biggest minority. Interpretation of census results is complicated by the fact that before 1918, language was used as census criterion, and after 1918 ethnicity.
As Bratislava since 1918 enlarged its territory several times, it is questionable whether in calculation should not be taken also former independent communities (Dúbravka

Dúbravka

-People:* Dubravka , a feminine given name of Slavic origin* Doubravka of Bohemia, a princess of The Přemyslid dynasty* Martin Dúbravka, Slovak football goalkeeper-Places:* Dúbravka, Bratislava, a district of Bratislava, Slovakia...

, Lamač

Lamac

Lamač is the smallest borough of Bratislava, and part of the Bratislava IV district.The first written record of the German settlement dates to 1240. The German village was destroyed during the first siege of vienna by Turkish troops. Croats fleeing from the Ottomans in the south settled this area...

, Rača

Raca

Raca or RACA can refer to:* Raca, a Biblical term of Aramaic origin used in Matthew 5:22. See Aramaic of Jesus or Expounding of the Law.* Rača, a town and municipality in Serbia* Rača , river in Serbia...

, etc.) which were mostly Slovak or only districts which officially belonged to the city in the time of a given census. Moreover, residents of mixed origin tended to adapt their "choice" to the political winners (Hungarian before 1918, Slovak after 1918) and what would be the most suitable or least dangerous identity.
For example a representation of ethnic Hungarians in increased from 7.5% in 1850 to 40.53% in 1910.
And a representation of Slovaks really "jumped" from 14.42% in 1910 to 33% in 1919. It means that many people were in practise bi- or trilingual and multicultural and many Slovaks used to present themselves because of a pressure of Magyarisation as ethnic Hungarians.
After the formation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, Bratislava remained a multi-ethnic city, but with a different demographic trend. After active Slovakization

Slovakization

Slovakization or Slovakisation is a term used to describe a cultural change in which ethnically non-Slovak people are made to become Slovak. The process can be named as 'accelerated assimilation'....

 the proportion of Slovaks and Czechs increased, while the proportion of Germans and Hungarians fell. Part of this was caused by emigration of (largely Hungarian) former government employees, and immigration of Czechs and Slovaks who took their places. In 1938, 59% of population were Slovaks or Czechs, while Germans represented 22% and Hungarians 13% of the city's population. The creation of the first Slovak Republic in 1939 brought other changes, most notably the expulsion of many Czechs and Jews. In 1945, most of the Germans were evacuated. After the restoration of Czechoslovakia, the Beneš decrees

Beneš decrees

Decrees of the President of the Republic , more commonly known as the Beneš decrees, were a series of laws that were drafted by the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II and issued by President...

 collectively punished ethnic German and Hungarian minorities by expropriation and
deportation to Germany, Austria, and Hungary for their alleged collaborationism with Nazi
Germany and Hungary against Czechoslovakia. The removal of Slovak citizenship of Hungarian and German ethnicities also forced the minorities to leave the city. Also, the population exchanges between Hungary and Slovakia decreased the number of the Hungarians in the city. The city thereby lost its multicultural character. Since the 1950s, the Slovaks have been the dominant ethnicity in the town, making up around 90% of the city's population. By the mid 1970s, it surpassed Brno as the second-largest city of Czechoslovakia, but still only a third of the size of Prague, the capital.

Year	Slovaks	Czechs	Germans	Hungarians	Jews
1850	18%	?	75%	7.5%	?
1880	8%	?	68%	8%	16%
1910	14.92%	?	41.92%	40.53%	?
1919	33%	?	36%	29%	?
1930	33%	23%	25%	16%	3.83%
1940	49%	?	20%	9.53%	8.78%
1961	95.15%	4.61%	0.52%	3.44%	0%
1970	92%	4.6%	0.5%	3.4%	0%
1991	93.39%	2.47%	0.29%	4.6%	0%
2001	91.39%	2%	0.28%	3.84%	0%

The most reliable sources are from the time before 1867 when ethnicity did not play an important role, in conditions of democratic Czechoslovak sate in 1919-1938 and after 1960 when it again became less important. On ethnic composition of the city in time before 19th century there are no reliable sources. But in a top-class of the city in the 18th century this composition could be as follows: 60% Germans, 20% Slovaks, 20% ethnic Hungarians.

Age

According to a 2005 estimate, the average age in the city was 38.7 years, distributed as follows: 51,783 inhabitants of pre-productive age (0–14), 12.1%; 281,403 of productive age (15–59), 65.6%; and 92,273 of post-productive age (55+ for females, 60+ for males), 21.5%.

Religion

The 2001 census recorded 243,048 Roman Catholics (56.7%), 125,729 Atheists (29.3%), 24,810 Augsburg Confessional Lutherans (6%), 3,163 Greek Catholics

Eastern Rite Catholic Churches

The Eastern Catholic Churches are autonomous, self-governing particular churches in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Together with the Latin Church, they compose the worldwide Catholic Church...

 (0.7%), 1,918 Reformed Christians

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

, 1,827 Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...

, 1,616 Eastern Orthodox

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...

, 737 Methodist Protestants, 748 Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

, and 613 Baptists.