Ivan Žagar was born on 12 January 1962 in Maribor. After a technical high school he continued his studies at the technical faculty of the University of Maribor. He graduated in 1986 and started working at the same faculty as young researcher.

In 1988 he became assistant and the following year he successfully terminated his post graduate studies. In 1990 he received the national award for young researches for his excellent research work. He was awarded a doctoral degree of sciences in 1992, became assistant professor and taught courses in treatment techniques and installations in the treatment industry.

He continued his studies at the Paul Scherer Insitut in Switzerland and at the Wessex Institute of Tehnology in Great Britain. He is the author of a series of original scientific articles published in national and foreign scientific publications. His personal bibliography contains more than 100 articles. He presented scientific papers at more than 20 national and international scientific conferences; and he was the mentor to 13 under graduate and post graduate students.

In 1994 he was elected Mayor of Slovenska Bistrica, and remained in that position until 2004. Since 2003 he has been an active member of the executive committee of the Slovenia's People's Party (SLS).

Dr Ivan Žagar has always been active in both professional and political spheres. He is the member of a series of national and international associations, such as the GAMM – Gesselsemaft fur angewandte mathematik und mechanik, the Slovenian Society of Mechanics, and the Slovenian Society for Simulation and Modelling (SLOSIM). He was the member of the managing committee of the Smal Projects Fund under the Phare Cross Border Cooperation programme, the member of the project group for the Phare "Regional development activities" programme, the member of the steering group of the Fund for the development and training of human resources, and also the head of the Task force for the treatment of waste.

In the period between the accession of Slovenia to the EU and his appointment as minister he was the alternate to the Slovenia's member of the Committee of the Regions.

Since 16 December 2004 he is the Minister of Local Self-government and Regional Policy.

He speaks fluent English, Serbian and Croatian.