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.
total: 40.6 years male: 38.6 years female: 42.3 years (2007 est.)
Population growth rate:
-0.035% (2007 est.)
Birth rate:
9.63 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate:
11.57 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration rate:
1.58 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.054 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.989 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.626 male(s)/female total population: 0.926 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births male: 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births female: 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.9 years male: 71.26 years female: 78.75 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.41 children born/woman (2007 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: Croat(s), Croatian(s) adjective: Croatian
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: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98.5% male: 99.4% female: 97.8% (2003 est.)
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
Government type:
presidential/parliamentary democracy
Capital:
name: Zagreb geographic coordinates: 45 48 N, 15 58 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
Independence Day, 8 October (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:
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: President Stjepan (Stipe) MESIC (since 18 February 2000) head of government: Prime Minister Ivo SANADER (since 9 December 2003); Deputy Prime Ministers Jadranka KOSOR (since 23 December 2003) and Damir POLANCEC (since 15 February 2005) cabinet: Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and approved by the parliamentary Assembly elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 16 January 2005 (next to be held in January 2010); the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president and then approved by the Assembly election results: Stjepan MESIC reelected president; percent of vote - Stjepan MESIC 66%, Jadranka KOSOR 34% in the second round
Legislative branch:
unicameral Assembly or Sabor (152 seats; members elected from party lists by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 23 November 2003 (next to be held in November 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; number of seats by party - HDZ 63, SDP 34, HNS 11, HSS 9, HSP 7, IDS 4, HDSSB 3, HSLS 3, HSU 3, SDSS 3, other 12 note: minority government coalition - HDZ, DC, HSLS, HSU, SDSS; note - the Democratic Center party or DC withdrew from the government in February 2006
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 Congress of Slavonia and Baranja or HDSSB [Branimir GLAVAS]; Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ [Ivo SANADER]; Croatian Party of Rights or HSP [Anto DJAPIC]; Croatian Peasant Party or HSS [Josip FRISCIC]; 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); Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS [Djurdja ADLESIC]; 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]; Social Democratic Party of Croatia or SDP [Ivica RACAN]
chief of mission: Ambassador Neven JURICA chancery: 2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 588-5899 FAX: [1] (202) 588-8936 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Robert A. BRADTKE embassy: 2 Thomas Jefferson Street, 10010 Zagreb mailing address: use street address telephone: [385] (1) 661-2200 FAX: [385] (1) 661-2373
Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and blue superimposed by the Croatian coat of arms (red and white checkered)
general assessment: NA domestic: reconstruction plan calls for replacement of all analog circuits with digital and enlarging the network; a backup will be included in the plan for the main trunk international: country code - 385; digital international service is provided through the main switch in Zagreb; Croatia participates in the Trans-Asia-Europe (TEL) fiber-optic project, which consists of 2 fiber-optic trunk connections with Slovenia and a fiber-optic trunk line from Rijeka to Split and Dubrovnik; Croatia is also investing in ADRIA 1, a joint fiber-optic project with Germany, Albania, and Greece
total: 23 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 9 (2006)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 45 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 7 under 914 m: 37 (2006)
Heliports:
2 (2006)
Pipelines:
gas 1,340 km; oil 583 km (2006)
Railways:
total: 2,726 km standard gauge: 2,726 km 1.435-m gauge (1,199 km electrified) (2005)
Roadways:
total: 28,344 km paved: 24,186 km (includes 742 km of expressways) unpaved: 4,158 km (2004)
Waterways:
785 km (2006)
Merchant marine:
total: 72 ships (1000 GRT or over) 1,079,286 GRT/1,724,698 DWT by type: bulk carrier 22, cargo 11, chemical tanker 3, passenger/cargo 27, petroleum tanker 5, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 3 registered in other countries: 36 (Belize 1, Cyprus 2, Liberia 7, Malta 10, Marshall Islands 2, Panama 5, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 9) (2006)
Ports and terminals:
Omisalj, Ploce, Rijeka, Sibenik, Vukovar (on Danube)
Ground Forces (Hrvatska Kopnena Vojska, HKoV), Naval Forces (Hrvatska Ratna Mornarica, HRM), Air and Air Defense Forces (Hrvatsko Ratno Zrakoplovstvo i Protuzrakoplovna Obrana, HRZiPZO), Joint Education and Training Command, Logistics Command; Military Police Force supports each of the three Croatian military forces (2006)
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 (December 2004)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 1,005,058 females age 18-49: 1,008,511 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 725,914 females age 18-49: 823,611 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 29,020 females age 18-49: 27,897 (2005 est.)
dispute remains with Bosnia and Herzegovina over several small disputed sections of the boundary related to maritime access that hinders ratification of the 1999 border agreement; 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; Slovenia also protests Croatia's 2003 claim to an exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic; 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: 4,200-7,000 (Croats and Serbs displaced in 1992-95 war) (2006)
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
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