Banská Bystrica Region

Seat	Banská Bystrica
Area:	9,454.8 km²
Population:	657,119
Density:	70 /km²
Districts:	13

The region is prevailingly mountains and covers central-southern part of Slovakia ranging from Low Tatras till River Ipeľ and forming the borders with Hungary. The regions is divided into 13 districts: Banská Bystrica, Brezno, Žiar nad Hronom, Žarnovica, Banská Štiavnica, Zvolen, Detva, Krupina, Veľký Krtíš, Lučenec, Poltár, Rimavská Sobota a Revúca.

Natural Conditions of Banská Bystrica Region

Banská Bystrica District is geologically very complex due to its varied terrain. It is formed by klippen and volcanic geological zones. The district is covered mostly by brown forest soils, rendzinas on limestone, brown and clay soils in basins. Banská Bystrica District is very rich in copper deposits. They can be found in Lower Tatras and Starohorské Mountains as a result of the volcanic activity. The tectonic activity and nappe formations are connected to limestone and dolomites in schist cores. Volcanic Slovak Ore Mountains and Cerová Highland are very rich in andesites, rhyolites, basalts and complex ores, particularly around Banská Štiavnica and Kremnica. Banská Bystrica District is not formed only by volcanic mountains. Lower Tatras, southern foothills of Greater Fatra, Horehronské podolie and Slovak Ore Mountains rich in karst formations also reach into its territory. Southern Slovak Basin is the only one falling into the warm climate zone, the rest of the territory falls into the temperate and the highest situated parts into the cool climate zone. Many important national parks are part of the Banská Bystrica District: NAPANT- National Park Lower Tatras, Slovak Paradise, Muráň Plain, Greater Fatra, Slovak Karst and protected landscape areas: Poľana, Cerová Highland, Ponitrie and Štiavnické Mountains.

Banská Bystrica Region is divided into 13 districts:

Banská Bystrica
Brezno
Žiar nad Hronom
Žarnovica
Banská Štiavnica
Zvolen
Detva
Krupina
Veľký Krtíš
Lučenec
Poltár
Rimavská Sobota
Revúca