Guide to Croatia Introduction Background: The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal independent Communist state under the strong hand of Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998.
Geography Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia
Geographic coordinates: 45 10 N, 15 30 E
Map references: Europe
Area: total
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than West Virginia
Land boundaries: total
Coastline: 5,835 km (mainland 1,777 km, islands 4,058 km)
Maritime claims: territorial sea
Climate: Mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters; mild winters, dry summers along coast
Terrain: geographically diverse; flat plains along Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near Adriatic coastline and islands
Elevation extremes: lowest point
Natural resources: oil, some coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, hydropower
Land use: arable land
Irrigated land: 30 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: destructive earthquakes
Environment - current issues: air pollution (from metallurgical plants) and resulting acid rain is damaging the forests; coastal pollution from industrial and domestic waste; landmine removal and reconstruction of infrastructure consequent to 1992-95 civil strife
Environment - international agreements: party to
Geography - note: controls most land routes from Western Europe to Aegean Sea and Turkish Straits
People Population: 4,495,904 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years
Median age: total
Population growth rate: -0.02% (2005 est.)
Birth rate: 9.57 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate: 11.38 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate: 1.58 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth
Infant mortality rate: total
Life expectancy at birth: total population
Total fertility rate: 1.39 children born/woman (2005 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 200 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 10 (2001 est.)
Nationality: noun
Ethnic groups: Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, other 5.9% (including Bosniak, Hungarian, Slovene, Czech, and Roma) (2001 census)
Religions: Roman Catholic 87.8%, Orthodox 4.4%, other Christian 0.4%, Muslim 1.3%, other and unspecified 0.9%, none 5.2% (2001 census)
Languages: Croatian 96.1%, Serbian 1%, other and undesignated 2.9% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German) (2001 census)
Literacy: definition
Government Country name: conventional long form
Government type: presidential/parliamentary democracy
Capital: Zagreb
Administrative divisions: 20 counties (zupanije, zupanija - singular) and 1 city* (grad - singular); Bjelovarsko-Bilogorska Zupanija, Brodsko-Posavska Zupanija, Dubrovacko-Neretvanska Zupanija, Istarska Zupanija, Karlovacka Zupanija, Koprivnicko-Krizevacka Zupanija, Krapinsko-Zagorska Zupanija, Licko-Senjska Zupanija, Medimurska Zupanija, Osjecko-Baranjska Zupanija, Pozesko-Slavonska Zupanija, Primorsko-Goranska Zupanija, Sibensko-Kninska Zupanija, Sisacko-Moslavacka Zupanija, Splitsko-Dalmatinska Zupanija, Varazdinska Zupanija, Viroviticko-Podravska Zupanija, Vukovarsko-Srijemska Zupanija, Zadarska Zupanija, Zagreb*, Zagrebacka Zupanija
Independence: 25 June 1991 (from Yugoslavia)
National holiday: Independence Day, 8 October (1991); note - 25 June 1991 is the day the Croatian Parliament voted for independence; following a 3-month moratorium to allow the European Community to solve the Yugoslav crisis peacefully, Parliament adopted a decision on 8 October 1991 to sever constitutional relations with Yugoslavia
Constitution: adopted on 22 December 1990; revised 2000, 2001
Legal system: based on civil law system
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal (16 years of age, if employed)
Executive branch: chief of state
Legislative branch: unicameral Assembly or Sabor (152 seats; note - one seat was added in the November 2003 parliamentary elections; members elected from party lists by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections
Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Constitutional Court; judges for both courts appointed for eight-year terms by the Judicial Council of the Republic, which is elected by the Assembly
Political parties and leaders: Croatian Bloc or HB [Ivic PASALIC]; Croatian Christian Democratic Union or HKDU [Anto KOVACEVIC]; Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ [Ivo SANADER]; Croatian Party of Rights or HSP [Anto DJAPIC]; Croatian Peasant Party or HSS [Zlatko TOMCIC]; Croatian Pensioner Party or HSU [Vladimir JORDAN]; Croatian People's Party or HNS [Vesna PUSIC] (in 2005 party merged with Libra to become Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats or NS-LD [Vesna PUSIC]); Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS [Ivan CEHOK]; Croatian True Revival Party or HIP [Miroslav TUDJMAN]; Democratic Centre or DC [Vesna SKARE-OZBOLT]; Independent Democratic Serb Party or SDSS [Vojislav STANIMIROVIC]; Istrian Democratic Assembly or IDS [Ivan JAKOVCIC]; Liberal Party or LS [Zlatko BENASIC]; Party of Liberal Democrats or Libra [Jozo RADOS] (in 2005 merged with HNS); Social Democratic Party of Croatia or SDP [Ivica RACAN]
Political pressure groups and leaders: NA
International organization participation: ABEDA, BIS, CE, CEI, EAPC, EBRD, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, NAM (observer), OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMOGIP, UNOCI, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission
Flag description: red, white, and blue horizontal bands with Croatian coat of arms (red and white checkered)
Economy Economy - overview: Before the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Croatia, after Slovenia, was the most prosperous and industrialized area, with a per capita output perhaps one-third above the Yugoslav average. The economy emerged from a mild recession in 2000 with tourism, banking, and public investments leading the way. Unemployment remains high, at about 14 percent, with structural factors slowing its decline. While macroeconomic stabilization has largely been achieved, structural reforms lag because of deep resistance on the part of the public and lack of strong support from politicians. Growth, while impressively about 4% for the last several years, has been achieved through high fiscal and current account deficits. The government is gradually reducing a heavy back log of civil cases, many involving land tenure. The EU accession process should accelerate fiscal and structural reform.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $50.33 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3.7% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $11,200 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture
Labor force: 1.71 million (2004 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 2.7%, industry 32.8%, services 64.5% (2004)
Unemployment rate: 13.8% (2004 est.)
Population below poverty line: 11% (2003)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 29 (1998)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.5% (2004 est.)
Investment (gross fixed): 28.6% of GDP (2004 est.)
Budget: revenues
Public debt: 41.7% of GDP (2004 est.)
Agriculture - products: wheat, corn, sugar beets, sunflower seed, barley, alfalfa, clover, olives, citrus, grapes, soybeans, potatoes; livestock, dairy products
Industries: chemicals and plastics, machine tools, fabricated metal, electronics, pig iron and rolled steel products, aluminum, paper, wood products, construction materials, textiles, shipbuilding, petroleum and petroleum refining, food and beverages; tourism
Industrial production growth rate: 2.7% (2004 est.)
Electricity - production: 12.51 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel
Electricity - consumption: 15.2 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports: 406 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports: 3.966 billion kWh (2002)
Oil - production: 21,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - consumption: 89,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: NA
Oil - imports: NA
Oil - proved reserves: 93.6 million bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - production: 1.76 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: 2.84 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 1.08 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 34.36 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance: $-1.925 billion (2004 est.)
Exports: $7.845 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities: transport equipment, textiles, chemicals, foodstuffs, fuels
Exports - partners: Italy 23%, Bosnia and Herzegovina 13.4%, Germany 11.4%, Austria 9.6%, Slovenia 7.6% (2004)
Imports: $16.7 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery, transport and electrical equipment, chemicals, fuels and lubricants, foodstuffs
Imports - partners: Italy 17.1%, Germany 15.5%, Russia 7.3%, Slovenia 7.1%, Austria 6.9%, France 4.4% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $8.563 billion (2004 est.)
Debt - external: $26.4 billion (2004 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: ODA $166.5 million (2002)
Currency (code): kuna (HRK)
Currency code: HRK
Exchange rates: kuna per US dollar - 6.0358 (2004), 6.7035 (2003), 7.8687 (2002), 8.34 (2001), 8.2766 (2000)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Telephones - main lines in use: 1.825 million (2002)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 2.553 million (2003)
Telephone system: general assessment
Radio broadcast stations: AM 16, FM 98, shortwave 5 (1999)
Radios: 1.51 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 36 (plus 321 repeaters) (September 1995)
Televisions: 1.22 million (1997)
Internet country code: .hr
Internet hosts: 29,644 (2004)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 9 (2000)
Internet users: 1.014 million (2003)
Transportation Railways: total
Highways: total
Waterways: 785 km (2004)
Pipelines: gas 1,340 km; oil 583 km (2004)
Ports and harbors: Omisalj, Ploce, Rijeka, Sibenik, Vukovar (on Danube)
Merchant marine: total
Airports: 68 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total
Airports - with unpaved runways: total
Heliports: 1 (2004 est.)
Military Military branches: Ground Forces (Hrvatska Vojska, HKoV), Naval Forces (Hrvatska Ratna Mornarica, HRM), Air and Air Defense Forces (Hrvatsko Ratno Zrakoplovstvo i Protuzrakoplovna Obrana, HRZiPZO)
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory military service, with 6-month service obligation; 16 years of age with consent for voluntary service; Croatian Military Police planning to end conscription in 2005 (December 2004)
Manpower available for military service: males age 18-49
Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49
Manpower reaching military service age annually: males
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $620 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 2.39% (2002 est.)
Transnational Issues Disputes - international: discussions continue with Bosnia and Herzegovina over several small disputed sections of the boundary; the Croatia-Slovenia land and maritime boundary agreement, which would have ceded most of Pirin Bay and maritime access to Slovenia and several villages to Croatia, remains un-ratified and in dispute; as a European Union peripheral state, neighboring Slovenia must conform to the strict Schengen border rules to curb illegal migration and commerce through southeastern Europe while encouraging close cross-border ties with Croatia
Refugees and internally displaced persons: IDPs
Illicit drugs: transit point along the Balkan route for Southwest Asian heroin to Western Europe; has been used as a transit point for maritime shipments of South American cocaine bound for Western Europe
Last updated: 20 October, 2005
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