Croatia Population: 4,270,480
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| History | |
| 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 consisting of six socialist republics under the strong hand of Marshal Josip Broz, aka 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, along with a majority of Croatia's ethnic Serb population. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998. The country joined NATO in April 2009 and the EU in July 2013. |
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| Geography | |
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| Location: | Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia |
| Geographic coordinates: | 45 10 N, 15 30 E |
| Area: | total: 56,594 sq km land: 55,974 sq km water: 620 sq km Size comparison: slightly smaller than West Virginia |
| Land Boundaries: | total: 2,237 km border countries (5): Bosnia and Herzegovina 956 km, Hungary 348 km, Montenegro 19 km, Serbia 314 km, Slovenia 600 km |
| Coastline: | 5,835 km (mainland 1,777 km, islands 4,058 km) |
| Maritime claims: | territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation |
| 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 |
| Natural resources: | oil, some coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, hydropower |
| Land use: | agricultural land: 23.7% (2011 est.) arable land: 16% (2011 est.) permanent crops: 1.5% (2011 est.) permanent pasture: 6.2% (2011 est.) forest: 34.4% (2011 est.) other: 41.9% (2011 est.) |
| Irrigated land: | 240 sq km (2012) |
| Natural hazards: | destructive earthquakes |
| Current Environment Issues: | air pollution improving but still a concern in urban settings and in emissions arriving from neighboring countries; surface water pollution in the Danube River Basin |
| International Environment Agreements: | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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| People | |
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| Nationality: | noun: Croat(s), Croatian(s) adjective: Croatian note: the French designation of "Croate" to Croatian mercenaries in the 17th century eventually became "Cravate" and later came to be applied to the soldiers' scarves - the cravat; Croatia celebrates Cravat Day every 18 October |
| Ethnic groups: | Croat 90.4%, Serb 4.4%, other 4.4% (including Bosniak, Hungarian, Slovene, Czech, and Romani), unspecified 0.8% (2011 est.) |
| Languages: | Croatian (official) 95.6%, Serbian 1.2%, other 3% (including Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and Albanian), unspecified 0.2% (2011 est.) |
| Religions: | Roman Catholic 86.3%, Orthodox 4.4%, Muslim 1.5%, other 1.5%, unspecified 2.5%, not religious or atheist 3.8% (2011 est.) |
| Population: | 4,270,480 (July 2018 est.) |
| Age structure: | 0-14 years: 14.21% (male 312,805 /female 293,931) 15-24 years: 11.09% (male 242,605 /female 230,853) 25-54 years: 40.15% (male 858,025 /female 856,455) 55-64 years: 14.65% (male 304,054 /female 321,543) 65 years and over: 19.91% (male 342,025 /female 508,184) (2018 est.) |
| Dependency ratios: | total dependency ratio: 50.9 (2015 est.) youth dependency ratio: 22.4 (2015 est.) elderly dependency ratio: 28.5 (2015 est.) potential support ratio: 3.5 (2015 est.) |
| Median age: | total: 43.3 years male: 41.4 years female: 45.3 years (2018 est.) |
| Population growth rate: | -0.51% (2018 est.) |
| Birth rate: | 8.8 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) |
| Death rate: | 12.4 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) |
| Net migration rate: | -1.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2018 est.) |
| Urbanization: | urban population: 56.9% of total population (2018) rate of urbanization: -0.08% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population: | 686,000 ZAGREB (capital) (2018) |
| Sex ratio: | at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2018 est.) Mother's mean age at first birth: 28 years (2014 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate: | 8 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate: | total: 9.1 deaths/1,000 live births male: 8.8 deaths/1,000 live births female: 9.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2018 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth: | total population: 76.3 years male: 73.2 years female: 79.6 years (2018 est.) |
| Total fertility rate: | 1.41 children born/woman (2018 est.) |
| Physicians density: | 3.13 physicians/1,000 population (2016) |
| Hospital bed density: | 5.6 beds/1,000 population (2015) |
| Drinking water source: | improved: urban: 99.6% of population rural: 99.7% of population total: 99.6% of population unimproved: urban: 0.4% of population rural: 0.3% of population total: 0.4% of population (2015 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access: | improved: urban: 97.8% of population (2015 est.) rural: 95.8% of population (2015 est.) total: 97% of population (2015 est.) unimproved: urban: 2.2% of population (2015 est.) rural: 4.2% of population (2015 est.) total: 3% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: | <.1% (2016 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: | 1,500 (2016 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths: | <100 (2016 est.) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate: | 24.4% (2016) |
| Education expenditures: | 4.6% of GDP (2013) |
| Literacy: | definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.) total population: 99.3% male: 99.7% female: 98.9% (2015 est.) |
| School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education): | total: 15 years male: 14 years female: 16 years (2016) Unemployment, youth ages 15-24: total: 27.4% male: 27.1% female: 27.7% (2017 est.) |
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| Government | |
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| Country name: | conventional long form: Republic of Croatia conventional short form: Croatia local long form: Republika Hrvatska local short form: Hrvatska former: People's Republic of Croatia, Socialist Republic of Croatia etymology: name derives from the Croats, a Slavic tribe who migrated to the Balkans in the 7th century A.D. |
| Government type: | parliamentary republic |
| Capital: | name: Zagreb geographic coordinates: 45 48 N, 16 00 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October etymology: the name seems to be related to "digging"; archeologists suggest that the original settlement was established beyond a water-filled hole or "graba" and that the name derives from this; "za" in Slavic means "beyond"; the overall meaning may be "beyond the trench (fault, channel, ditch)" |
| Administrative divisions: | 20 counties (zupanije, zupanija - singular) and 1 city* (grad - singular) with special county status; Bjelovarsko-Bilogorska(Bjelovar-Bilogora), Brodsko-Posavska (Brod-Posavina), Dubrovacko-Neretvanska (Dubrovnik-Neretva), Istarska (Istria), Karlovacka (Karlovac), Koprivnicko-Krizevacka (Koprivnica-Krizevci), Krapinsko-Zagorska (Krapina-Zagorje), Licko-Senjska (Lika-Senj), Medimurska (Medimurje), Osjecko-Baranjska (Osijek-Baranja), Pozesko-Slavonska (Pozega-Slavonia), Primorsko-Goranska (Primorje-Gorski Kotar), Sibensko-Kninska (Sibenik-Knin), Sisacko-Moslavacka (Sisak-Moslavina), Splitsko-Dalmatinska (Split-Dalmatia), Varazdinska (Varazdin), Viroviticko-Podravska (Virovitica-Podravina), Vukovarsko-Srijemska (Vukovar-Syrmia), Zadarska (Zadar), Zagreb*, Zagrebacka (Zagreb county) |
| Independence: | 25 June 1991 (from Yugoslavia); notable earlier dates: ca. 925 (Kingdom of Croatia established); 1 December 1918 (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) established) |
| National holiday: | Independence Day, 8 October (1991) and Statehood Day, 25 June (1991); note - 25 June 1991 was the day the Croatian parliament voted for independence; following a three-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: | history: several previous; latest adopted 22 December 1990 amendments: proposed by at least one-fifth of the Assembly membership, by the president of the republic, by the Government of Croatia, or through petition by at least 10% of the total electorate; proceedings to amend require majority vote by the Assembly; passage requires two-thirds majority vote by the Assembly; passage by petition requires a majority vote in a referendum and promulgation by the Assembly; amended several times, last in 2014 (2016) |
| Legal system: | civil law system influenced by legal heritage of Austria-Hungary; note - Croatian law was fully harmonized with the European Community acquis as of the June 2010 completion of EU accession negotiations |
| Suffrage: | 18 years of age; universal |
| Executive branch: | chief of state: President Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC (since 19 February 2015) head of government: Prime Minister Andrej PLENKOVIC (since 19 October 2016); Deputy Prime Ministers Damir KRSTICEVIC (since 19 October 2016), Predrag STROMAR (since 9 June 2017), Marija Pejcinovic BURIC (since 19 June 2017), and Tomislav TOLUSIC (since 25 May 2018) cabinet: Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and approved by the Assembly elections/appointments: president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 28 December 2014 and 11 January 2015 (next to be held in 2019); the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the president and approved by the Assembly election results: Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC elected president in second round; percent of vote - Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC (HD |