Demographics of Croatia
Encyclopedia
The demographic
features of the population
of Croatia
include statistical data collected through censuses, normally conducted in ten-year intervals and analysed by various statistical bureaus since the 1850s. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics performs this task since the 1990s. The latest census in Croatia was performed in April 2011. The permanent population of Croatia at the 2011 census had reached 4.29 million. Population density
equals 75.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, and the overall life expectancy in Croatia at birth is 75.7 years. Since 1991, Croatia's death rate continuously exceeds its birth rate
. The population rose steadily from 2.1 million in 1857 until 1991, when it peaked at 4.7 million, with the exception of censuses taken following the two world wars. The natural growth rate of the population is currently negative, with the demographic transition
completed in the 1970s. In terms of age structure, the population is dominated by the 15–64 year old segment. The median age of the population is 41.4, and the gender ratio of the total population is 0.93 males per 1 female.
Croatia is inhabited mostly by Croats
(89.6%), while minorities include Serbs
(4.5%), and 21 other ethnicities (less than 1% each). The demographic history of Croatia is marked by significant migrations, including the arrival of the Croats in the area growth of Hungarian and German speaking population since the personal union of Croatia and Hungary
, and joining of the Habsburg Empire, migrations set off by Ottoman conquests
and growth of Italian speaking population in Istria
and in Dalmatia
during Venetian rule there. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary
, the Hungarian population declined, while the German speaking population was forced or compelled to leave after World War II and similar fate
was suffered by the Italian population. Late 19th century and the 20th century were marked by large scale economic migrations abroad. The 1940s and the 1950s in Yugoslavia were marked by internal migrations in Yugoslavia, as well as by urbanisation. The most recent significant migrations came as a result of the Croatian War of Independence
when hundreds of thousands were displaced.
The Croatian language
is the official language of Croatia, but minority languages are officially used in some local government units. Croatian is declared as the native language by 96% of the population. A 2009 survey revealed that 78% of Croatians claim knowledge of at least one foreign language—most often English
. The main religions of Croatia are Roman Catholicism
(87.8%), Orthodox Christianity
(4.4%) and Islam
(1.3%). Literacy in Croatia stands at 98.1%. The proportion of the population aged 15 and over attaining academic degree
s grew rapidly since 2001, doubling and reaching 16.7% by 2008. An estimated 4.5% of the GDP is spent for education. Primary and secondary education are available in Croatian and in languages of recognised minorities. Croatia has a universal health care
system and in 2010, the nation spent 6.9% of its GDP on healthcare. Net monthly income in September 2011 averaged 5,397 kuna
( 729 euro
). The most significant sources of employment in 2008 were manufacturing industry, wholesale and retail trade and construction. In October 2011, unemployment rate was 17.4%. Croatia's median equivalent household income tops average Purchasing Power Standard of the ten countries which joined the EU in 2004
, while trailing the EU average. 2011 census recorded a total of 1.5 million private households, which predominantly owned their own housing. Average urbanisation rate in Croatia stands at 56%, with augmentation of urban population and reduction of rural population.
of 1.50 children per mother is one of the lowest in the world. Since 1991, Croatia's death rate has continuously exceeded its birth rate
.. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics forecast that the population may even shrink to 3.1 million by 2051, depending on the actual birth rate and the level of net migration. The population of Croatia rose steadily from 2.1 million in 1857 until 1991, when it peaked at 4.7 million, with the exception of censuses taken in 1921 and 1948, i.e. following two world wars. The natural growth rate of the population is currently negative, with the demographic transition
completed in the 1970s.
One explanation for the recent population decrease is the Croatian War of Independence
. During the war, large sections of the population were displaced and emigration increased. In 1991, in predominantly Serb areas, more than 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were either removed from their homes by the Croatian Serb forces or fled the violence. In 1995, during the final days of the war, more than 120,000 and perhaps as many as 200,000 Serbs fled the country before the arrival of Croatian forces during Operation Storm
. Within a decade following the end of the war, only 117,000 Serb refugees returned out of the 300,000 displaced during the entire war. Most of Croatia's remaining Serbs never lived in areas occupied in the Croatian War of Independence. Serbs have been only partially re-settled in the regions they previously inhabited, while some of the settlements previously inhabited by Serbs were settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly from Republika Srpska
.
In 2009, there were 44,577 live births in Croatia, comprising 22,877 male and 21,700 female children. Virtually all of those were performed in medical facilities; only 34 births occurred elsewhere. Out of the total number, 38,809 children were born in wedlock or within 300 days after the end of the marriage, and the average age of mothers at the birth of their first child was 27 years and 5 months. General fertility rate, i.e. number of births per 1,000 women aged 15–49 is 42.9, with the age specific rate peaking at 101.0 per million for women aged 25–29. In 2009, 52,414 persons died in Croatia, 48.5% of whom died in medical facilities and 90.0% of whom were receiving medical treatment at the time. Cardiovascular disease
and cancer
were the primary causes of death in the country, with 26,235 and 13,280 deaths respectively. In the same year, there were 2,986 violent deaths, including 2,121 due to accidents. The latter figure includes 616 deaths in traffic accidents. In 2009, the birth rate was 10.1 per mille, exceeded the by mortality rate of 11.8 per mille. The infant mortality rate was 5.3 per mille in 2009. In terms of age structure, the population of Croatia is dominated by the 15–64 year older segment (68.1%), while the size of the population younger than 15 and older than 64 is relatively small (15.1% and 16.9% respectively). The median age of the population is 41.4. The sex ratio of the population is 1.06 males per 1 female at birth and up to 14 years of age, and 0.99 males per 1 female between the ages of 15 and 64. But at ages over 64 the ratio is 0.64 males per 1 female. The ratio for the total population is 0.93 males per 1 female.
In contrast to the shrinking native population, since the late 1990s there has been a positive net migration into Croatia, reaching a level of more than 7,000 net immigrants in 2006. In recent years, the Croatian government has been pressured each year to add 40% to work permit quotas for foreign workers. In accordance with its immigration policy, Croatia is also trying to entice emigrants to return.
There were 8,468 immigrants in Croatia in 2009, more than half of them (57.5%) coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina
, a sharp decline from the previous year's 14,541. In the same year, there were 9,940 emigrants from the country, 44.8% of them leaving to Serbia
. The number of emigrants represents a substantial increase compared to the figure of 7,488 recorded in 2008. In 2009, the net migration to and from abroad peaked in the Sisak-Moslavina County
(-1,093 persons) and the city of Zagreb
(+830 persons).
In 2009, a total of 22,382 marriages were performed in Croatia as well as 5,076 divorces. The 2001 census recorded 1.47 million households in the country.
(23.3 million euro
). The 2011 census was performed using new methodology: the permanent population was determined as the enumerated population who lived in the census area for at least 12 months prior to the census, or plans to live in the same area for at least 12 months after the census. This method was also retroactively applied to the 2001 census data.
(4.5%), Bosniaks
, Hungarians, Italians, Slovenes, Germans
, Czechs, Romani people and others (5.9%). The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia
specifies 22 minorities explicitly. Those are Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks
, Italians, Hungarians, Jews
, Germans, Austrians
, Ukrainians
, Ruthenians
, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Russians
, Bulgarians
, Poles
, Romani, Rumanians, Turks, Vlachs
and Albanians
.
The demographic history of Croatia is characterised by significant migrations, starting with the arrival of the Croats in the area. According to the work De Administrando Imperio
written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII
, the Croats arrived in the area of modern-day Croatia in the early 7th century. However, that claim is disputed, and competing hypotheses date the event between the 6th and the 9th centuries. Following the establishment of a personal union of Croatia and Hungary
in 1102, and the joining of the Habsburg Empire in 1527, the Hungarian and German speaking population of Croatia began gradually increasing in number. The processes of Magyarization
and Germanization varied in intensity but persisted to the 20th century. The Ottoman conquests
initiated a westward migration of parts of the Croatian population; the Burgenland Croats
are direct descendants of some of those settlers. To replace the fleeing Croats the Habsburgs called on the Orthodox
populations of Bosnia and Serbia
to provide military service in the Croatian Military Frontier. Serb migration into this region peaked during the Great Serb Migrations of 1690 and 1737–39. Similarly, Venetian Republic rule in Istria
and in Dalmatia
, following the Fifth
and the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian Wars ushered gradual growth of Italian speaking population in those areas. Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary
in 1918, the Hungarian population declined, especially in the areas north of the Drava
river, where they represented the majority before World War I
.
The period between 1890 and World War I was marked by large economic emigration from Croatia to the United States
, and particularly to the areas of Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago
. Besides the United States, the main destination of the migrants was South America
, especially Argentina
, Chile
, Bolivia
and Peru
. It is estimated that 500,000 people left Croatia during this period. After World War I, the main focus of emigration shifted to Canada
, where about 15,000 people settled before the onset of World War II
. During World War II and in the period immediately following the war, there were further significant demographic changes as the German speaking population, the Volksdeutsche
, were either forced or otherwise compelled to leave—reducing their number from the prewar German population of Yugoslavia
of 500,000, living in parts of present-day Croatia and Serbia, to the figure of 62,000 recorded in the 1953 census. A similar fate
was suffered by the Italian population in Yugoslavia populating parts of present-day Croatia and Slovenia
, as 350,000 left for Italy
. The 1940s and the 1950s in Yugoslavia were marked by colonisation of settlements where the displaced Germans used to live, by people from the mountainous parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro
, and migrations to larger cities spurred on by the development of industry. In the 1960s and 1970s, another wave of economic migrants left Croatia. They largely moved to Canada, Australia
, New Zealand
and Western Europe
. During this period, 65,000 people left for Canada, and by the mid-1970s there were 150,000 Croats who moved to Australia. Particularly large European emigrant communities of Croats exist in Germany
, Austria
and Switzerland
, which largely stem from the 1960s and 1970s migrations.
The most recent significant migrations came as a result of the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. In 1991, more than 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were displaced by the Croatian Serb forces or fled the violence in areas with significant Serb populations. During the final days of the war, in 1995, between 120,000 and 200,000 Serbs fled the country before the arrival of the Croatian forces during Operation Storm
. Ten years after the war, only 117,000 Serb refugees returned out of the 300,000 displaced during the entire war. Most of the Serbs in Croatia who remained never lived in areas occupied during the Croatian War of Independence. Serbs have been only partially re-settled in the regions they previously inhabited, but some of the areas previously inhabited by Serbs were later settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, largely from the Republika Srpska
.
and of the civilians accompanying the troops of the British Army
at the end of World War II was followed by repatriation
and subsequent events that became known as Bleiburg massacre
. A substantial number of people were executed, but the exact number is disputed. The claims range from 12,000–15,000 to as many as 80,000 killed in May 1945. Finally, approximately 20,000 were killed or went missing during the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. The figure pertains only to those persons who would have been recorded by the 1991 census as living in Croatia.
is the official language of Croatia, and it is expected to become the 24th official language of the European Union upon Croatia's entrance into the EU in 2013. Minority languages are in official use in local government units where more than a third of the population consists of national minorities or where local legislation mandates their use. These languages are Czech
, Hungarian
, Italian
, Ruthenian
, Serbian
and Slovakian. According to the 2001 Census, 96% of citizens of Croatia declared Croatian as their native language, 1% declared Serbian
as their native language, while no other language is represented in Croatia by more than 0.5% of native speakers among the population of Croatia.
Croatian replaced Latin as the official language of the Croatian government in the 19th century. It is a South Slavic language
, and most Croatian vocabulary is derived from the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Croatian is written using the Latin alphabet and has three major dialect
s, with Shtokavian dialect
used as the standard Croatian, and Chakavian
and Kajkavian
dialects distinguished by their lexicon
, phonology
, and syntax
.
From 1961 to 1991, the official language was Serbo-Croatian. Even during socialist rule
, Croats often referred to their language as Croato-Serbian (instead of Serbo-Croatian) or as Croatian. Croatian and Serbian variants of the language were not officially recognised as different at the time, but referred to as the west and east version, and had different alphabets: the Latin alphabet
and Serbian Cyrillic
. Croatians are protective of the their language from foreign influences, as the language was under constant change and threats imposed by previous rulers (i.e. Austrian German, Hungarian, Italian and Turkish words were changed and altered to "Slavic" looking/sounding ones). Efforts made to impose policies to alter Croatian into "Serbo-Croatian" or a "South Slavic" language met resistance from Croats in the form of Croatian linguistic purism
.
A 2009 survey revealed that 78% of Croatians claim knowledge of at least one foreign language. According to a survey ordered by the European commission
in 2005, 49% of Croatians speak English
as their second language, 34% speak German
, and 14% speak Italian
. French
and Russian
are spoken by 4% each, and 2% of Croatians speak Spanish
. A substantial proportion of Slovenes (59%) have a certain level of knowledge of the Croatian language.
87.8%, Orthodox Christianity
4.4%, other Christianity
0.4%, Islam
1.3%, other unspecified 0.9%, and none 5.2%. In the Eurostat
Eurobarometer Poll of 2005, 67% of the population of Croatia responded that "they believe there is a God" and 7% said they do not believe "there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force", while 25% expressed a belief in "some sort of spirit or life force". In a 2009 Gallup
poll, 70% answered affirmatively when asked "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" Significantly, a 2008 Gallup survey of the Balkans
indicated church and religious organisations as the most trusted institutions in the country. The survey revealed that 62% of the respondents assigned "a lot" or "some" trust to those institutions, ranking them ahead of all types of governmental, international or non-governmental institutions.
Public schools allow religious education, in cooperation with religious communities that have agreements with the government, but attendance is not mandatory. The classes are organized widely in public elementary and secondary schools. In 2009, 92% of elementary school pupils and 87% of secondary school students attended the religious education classes. Public holidays in Croatia
also include the religious festival
s of Epiphany, Easter Monday, Corpus Christi Day, Assumption Day, All Saints' Day, Christmas, and St. Stephen's or Boxing Day. The religious festival public holidays are based on the Catholic liturgical year
, but citizens of the Republic of Croatia who celebrate different religious holidays have the right not to work on those dates. This includes Christians who celebrate Christmas on January 7 per the Julian calendar
, Muslims on the days of Ramadan Bayram and Kurban Bayram, and Jews on the days of Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur
. Marriage
s performed by the religious communities having agreements with the state are officially recognized, eliminating the need to register the marriages in a registrar office.
The legal position of religious communities is defined by special legislation, specifically regarding government funding, tax benefits, and religious education in schools. Other matters are left to each religious community to negotiate separately with the government. Registration of the communities is not mandatory, but registered communities become legal persons and enjoy tax and other benefits. The law stipulates that to be eligible for registration, a religious group must have at least 500 believers and be registered as a civil association for 5 years. Religious groups based abroad must submit written permission for registration from their country of origin.
and 4.9% completed gymnasium
. 4.2% of the same population received an undergraduate degree
, while 7.5% received an academic degree
, and 0.5% received a postgraduate or a doctoral degree. Croatia recorded a substantial growth of the population attaining academic degrees and by 2008, this population segment was estimated to encompass 16.7% of the total population of Croatians 15 and over. A worldwide study about the quality of living in different countries published by Newsweek
in August 2010 ranked the Croatian education system at 22nd, a position shared with Austria. In 2004, it was estimated that 4.5% of the GDP is spent for education, while schooling expectancy was estimated to 14 years on average. Primary education in Croatia starts at the age of six or seven and consists of eight grades. In 2007 a law was passed to increase free, noncompulsory education until 18 years of age. Compulsory education consists of eight grades of elementary school. Secondary education is provided by gymnasiums
and vocational school
s. As of 2010, there are 2,131 elementary schools and 713 schools providing various forms of secondary education. Primary and secondary education are also available in languages of recognised minorities in Croatia, where classes are held in Czech
, Hungarian
, Italian, Serbian and German languages.
There are 84 elementary level and 47 secondary level music
and art schools, as well as 92 schools for disabled children and youth and 74 schools for adults. Nationwide leaving exams
were introduced for secondary education students in the 2009–2010 school year. It comprises three compulsory subjects (Croatian language, mathematics
, and a foreign language) and optional subjects and is a prerequisite for a university education.
Croatia has eight universities, the University of Zagreb
, University of Split
, University of Rijeka
, University of Osijek
, University of Zadar
, University of Dubrovnik
, University of Pula
and Dubrovnik International University
.
The University of Zadar, the first university in Croatia, was founded in 1396 and remained active until 1807, when other institutions of higher education took over. It was reopened in 2002. The University of Zagreb, founded in 1669, is the oldest continuously operating university in Southeast Europe. There are also 11 polytechnics
and 23 higher education
institutions, of which 19 are private. In total, there are 132 institutions of higher education in Croatia, attended by more than 145 thousand students.
There are 205 companies, government or education system institutions and non-profit organizations in Croatia pursuing scientific research and the development of technology. Combined, they spent more than 3 billion kuna (400 million euro) and employed 10,191 full-time research staff in 2008. Among the scientific institutes operating in Croatia, the largest is the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb. The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
in Zagreb is a learned society
promoting language, culture, arts and science since its inception in 1866. Scientists from Croatia include inventors and Nobel Prize
winners.
system, the roots of which can be traced back to the Hungarian-Croatian Parliament Act of 1891, providing a form of mandatory insurance for all factory workers and craftsmen. The population is covered by a basic health insurance plan provided by statute and optional insurance. In 2009, the annual healthcare related expenditures reached 20.6 billion kuna (2.75 billion euro). Healthcare expenditures comprise only 0.6% of private health insurance and public spending. In 2010, Croatia spent 6.9% of its GDP on healthcare, representing a decline from approximately 8% estimated in 2008, when 84% of healthcare spending came from public sources. According to the World Health Organization
(WHO), Croatia ranks around the 50th in the world in terms of life expectancy.
There are hundreds of healthcare institutions in Croatia, including 79 hospitals and clinics with 23,967 beds. The hospitals and clinics care for more than 700 thousand patients per year and employ 5,205 medical doctors
, including 3,929 specialists. There are 6,379 private practice offices, and a total of 41,271 health workers in the country. There are 63 emergency medical service units, responding to more than a million calls. The principal cause of death in 2008 was cardiovascular disease at 43.5% for men and 57.2% for women, followed by tumours, at 29.4% for men and 21.4% for women. Other significant causes of death are injuries, poisonings and other external causes (7.7% men/3.9% women), digestive system diseases (5.7% men/3.6% women), respiratory system diseases (5.1% men/3.5% women) and endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (2.1% men/3.0% women). There is no other cause of disease affecting more than 3% of the population. In 2009 only 13 Croatians had been infected with HIV/AIDS and 6 had died from the disease. In 2008 it was estimated by the WHO that 27.4% of Croatians over age of 15 were smokers. According to 2003 WHO data, 22% of the Croatian adult population is obese.
( 729 euro
), dropping 2.1% relative to the previous month. In the same month, gross monthly income averaged 7,740 kuna ( 1,046 euro), and it includes the net salary along with income tax, retirement pension insurance
, healthcare insurance, occupational safety and health
insurance and employment promotion tax. The average net monthly income grew compared to 5,311 kuna ( 717 euro) in 2009 or 3,326 kuna ( 449 euro) in 2000. The highest net salaries were paid in financial services sector, and in April 2011 those averaged 10,041 kuna ( 1,356 euro), while the lowest ones, paid in the same month, were in the manufacturing and leather processing industries, averaging at 2,811 kuna ( 380 euro). Since June 2011, the minimum wage
in Croatia is 2,814 kuna ( 380 euro).
Number of employed persons recorded steady growth between 2000 and 2008 when it peaked, followed by 4% decline in 2009. That year, there were 1.499 million employed persons, with 45% of that number pertaining to women. The total number of employed persons includes 252,000 employed in crafts and freelance professionals and 35,000 employed in agriculture. The most significant sources of employment in 2008 were manufacturing industry and wholesale and retail trade (including motor vehicle repair services) employing 278,640 and 243,640 respectively. Further significant employment sector was construction industry comprising 143,336 jobs that year. In the same year, more than 100,000 were employed in public administration, defence and compulsory social insurance sector as well as in education. Since 2009, negative trends persisted in Croatia with jobs in the industry declined further by 3.5%. Number of unemployed and retired persons combined exceeded number of employed in August 2010, as it fell to 1.474 million. In 2009, labour force consisted of 1.765 million persons out of 3.7 million working age population—aged 15 and over. In October 2011, unemployment rate stood at 17.4%. 7.2% of employed persons hold a second job.
In comparison with the member states of the European Union
(EU), Croatia's median equivalent household income in terms of the Purchasing Power Standard (PPS) stands at 470, topping average PPS of the ten countries which joined the EU in 2004
(EU10), as well as Romania
and Bulgaria
, while significantly lagging behind the EU average. Within Croatia, the highest PPS is recorded in Istria County
(769), the City of Zagreb
(640) and the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
(576). The lowest PPS is observed in the Bjelovar-Bilogora County
and the Virovitica-Podravina County
(267).
Average urbanisation rate in Croatia stands at 56%, with the maximum rate recorded within the territory of the City of Zagreb
, where it reached 94.5% and Zagreb metropolitan area comprising the City of Zagreb and the Zagreb County
, where it stands at 76.4%. Very significant rate of urbanisation was observed in the second half of the 20th century. 1953 census recorded 57% of population which was active in agriculture, while a census performed in 1991
noted only 9.1% of population active in that field. This points to augmentation of urban population and reduction of rural population.
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
features of the population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
include statistical data collected through censuses, normally conducted in ten-year intervals and analysed by various statistical bureaus since the 1850s. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics performs this task since the 1990s. The latest census in Croatia was performed in April 2011. The permanent population of Croatia at the 2011 census had reached 4.29 million. Population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
equals 75.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, and the overall life expectancy in Croatia at birth is 75.7 years. Since 1991, Croatia's death rate continuously exceeds its birth rate
Birth rate
Crude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year . Another word used interchangeably with "birth rate" is "natality". When the crude birth rate is subtracted from the crude death rate, it reveals the rate of natural increase...
. The population rose steadily from 2.1 million in 1857 until 1991, when it peaked at 4.7 million, with the exception of censuses taken following the two world wars. The natural growth rate of the population is currently negative, with the demographic transition
Demographic transition
The demographic transition model is the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system. The theory is based on an interpretation of demographic history developed in 1929 by the American...
completed in the 1970s. In terms of age structure, the population is dominated by the 15–64 year old segment. The median age of the population is 41.4, and the gender ratio of the total population is 0.93 males per 1 female.
Croatia is inhabited mostly by Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
(89.6%), while minorities include Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
(4.5%), and 21 other ethnicities (less than 1% each). The demographic history of Croatia is marked by significant migrations, including the arrival of the Croats in the area growth of Hungarian and German speaking population since the personal union of Croatia and Hungary
Croatia in personal union with Hungary
Kingdom of Croatia after the succession crisis become a part of Kingdom of Hungary and — depending on sources — either was incorporated into Hungary or Croatia existed in a personal union with Hungary....
, and joining of the Habsburg Empire, migrations set off by Ottoman conquests
Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War
The Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War is the name for a sequence of conflicts, mostly of relatively low-intensity, between the Kingdom of Croatia, which in that period was ruled by a succession of dynasties and Ottoman Empires.- Time span :There are several different variations about the exact...
and growth of Italian speaking population in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
and in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
during Venetian rule there. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, the Hungarian population declined, while the German speaking population was forced or compelled to leave after World War II and similar fate
Istrian exodus
The expression Istrian exodus or Istrian-Dalmatian exodus is used to indicate the departure of ethnic Italians from Istria, Rijeka, and Dalmatia , after World War II. At the time of the exodus, these territories were part of the SR Croatia and SR Slovenia , today they are parts of the Republics of...
was suffered by the Italian population. Late 19th century and the 20th century were marked by large scale economic migrations abroad. The 1940s and the 1950s in Yugoslavia were marked by internal migrations in Yugoslavia, as well as by urbanisation. The most recent significant migrations came as a result of the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
when hundreds of thousands were displaced.
The Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
is the official language of Croatia, but minority languages are officially used in some local government units. Croatian is declared as the native language by 96% of the population. A 2009 survey revealed that 78% of Croatians claim knowledge of at least one foreign language—most often English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. The main religions of Croatia are Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
(87.8%), Orthodox Christianity
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
(4.4%) and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
(1.3%). Literacy in Croatia stands at 98.1%. The proportion of the population aged 15 and over attaining academic degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
s grew rapidly since 2001, doubling and reaching 16.7% by 2008. An estimated 4.5% of the GDP is spent for education. Primary and secondary education are available in Croatian and in languages of recognised minorities. Croatia has a universal health care
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
system and in 2010, the nation spent 6.9% of its GDP on healthcare. Net monthly income in September 2011 averaged 5,397 kuna
Croatian kuna
The kuna is the currency of Croatia since 1994 . It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Monetary Institute....
( 729 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
). The most significant sources of employment in 2008 were manufacturing industry, wholesale and retail trade and construction. In October 2011, unemployment rate was 17.4%. Croatia's median equivalent household income tops average Purchasing Power Standard of the ten countries which joined the EU in 2004
2004 enlargement of the European Union
The 2004 enlargement of the European Union was the largest single expansion of the European Union , both in terms of territory, number of states and population, however not in terms of gross domestic product...
, while trailing the EU average. 2011 census recorded a total of 1.5 million private households, which predominantly owned their own housing. Average urbanisation rate in Croatia stands at 56%, with augmentation of urban population and reduction of rural population.
Population
With a population of 4.29 million in 2011, Croatia ranks 125th in the world by population. Its population density is 75.8 inhabitants per square kilometre. The overall life expectancy in Croatia at birth is 75.7 years. The total fertility rateTotal Fertility Rate
The total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and she...
of 1.50 children per mother is one of the lowest in the world. Since 1991, Croatia's death rate has continuously exceeded its birth rate
Birth rate
Crude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year . Another word used interchangeably with "birth rate" is "natality". When the crude birth rate is subtracted from the crude death rate, it reveals the rate of natural increase...
.. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics forecast that the population may even shrink to 3.1 million by 2051, depending on the actual birth rate and the level of net migration. The population of Croatia rose steadily from 2.1 million in 1857 until 1991, when it peaked at 4.7 million, with the exception of censuses taken in 1921 and 1948, i.e. following two world wars. The natural growth rate of the population is currently negative, with the demographic transition
Demographic transition
The demographic transition model is the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system. The theory is based on an interpretation of demographic history developed in 1929 by the American...
completed in the 1970s.
One explanation for the recent population decrease is the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
. During the war, large sections of the population were displaced and emigration increased. In 1991, in predominantly Serb areas, more than 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were either removed from their homes by the Croatian Serb forces or fled the violence. In 1995, during the final days of the war, more than 120,000 and perhaps as many as 200,000 Serbs fled the country before the arrival of Croatian forces during Operation Storm
Operation Storm
Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
. Within a decade following the end of the war, only 117,000 Serb refugees returned out of the 300,000 displaced during the entire war. Most of Croatia's remaining Serbs never lived in areas occupied in the Croatian War of Independence. Serbs have been only partially re-settled in the regions they previously inhabited, while some of the settlements previously inhabited by Serbs were settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly from Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
.
In 2009, there were 44,577 live births in Croatia, comprising 22,877 male and 21,700 female children. Virtually all of those were performed in medical facilities; only 34 births occurred elsewhere. Out of the total number, 38,809 children were born in wedlock or within 300 days after the end of the marriage, and the average age of mothers at the birth of their first child was 27 years and 5 months. General fertility rate, i.e. number of births per 1,000 women aged 15–49 is 42.9, with the age specific rate peaking at 101.0 per million for women aged 25–29. In 2009, 52,414 persons died in Croatia, 48.5% of whom died in medical facilities and 90.0% of whom were receiving medical treatment at the time. Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
and cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
were the primary causes of death in the country, with 26,235 and 13,280 deaths respectively. In the same year, there were 2,986 violent deaths, including 2,121 due to accidents. The latter figure includes 616 deaths in traffic accidents. In 2009, the birth rate was 10.1 per mille, exceeded the by mortality rate of 11.8 per mille. The infant mortality rate was 5.3 per mille in 2009. In terms of age structure, the population of Croatia is dominated by the 15–64 year older segment (68.1%), while the size of the population younger than 15 and older than 64 is relatively small (15.1% and 16.9% respectively). The median age of the population is 41.4. The sex ratio of the population is 1.06 males per 1 female at birth and up to 14 years of age, and 0.99 males per 1 female between the ages of 15 and 64. But at ages over 64 the ratio is 0.64 males per 1 female. The ratio for the total population is 0.93 males per 1 female.
In contrast to the shrinking native population, since the late 1990s there has been a positive net migration into Croatia, reaching a level of more than 7,000 net immigrants in 2006. In recent years, the Croatian government has been pressured each year to add 40% to work permit quotas for foreign workers. In accordance with its immigration policy, Croatia is also trying to entice emigrants to return.
There were 8,468 immigrants in Croatia in 2009, more than half of them (57.5%) coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, a sharp decline from the previous year's 14,541. In the same year, there were 9,940 emigrants from the country, 44.8% of them leaving to Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. The number of emigrants represents a substantial increase compared to the figure of 7,488 recorded in 2008. In 2009, the net migration to and from abroad peaked in the Sisak-Moslavina County
Sisak-Moslavina County
Sisak-Moslavina County is a Croatian county in eastern Central Croatia and southwestern Slavonia. It is named after the city of Sisak and the region Moslavina just across the river Sava. According to 2001 census it is inhabited by 185 thousand people....
(-1,093 persons) and the city of Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
(+830 persons).
In 2009, a total of 22,382 marriages were performed in Croatia as well as 5,076 divorces. The 2001 census recorded 1.47 million households in the country.
Census data
The first modern population census in the country was conducted in 1857, and 15 more have been performed since then. Since 1961 the censuses are conducted in regular ten-year intervals, with the latest one in 2011. The first institution set up in the country specifically for the purposes of maintaining population statistics was the State Statistical Office, founded in 1875. Since its founding, the office changed its name and structure several times and was alternately subordinated to other institutions and independent, until the most recent changes in 1992, when the institution became the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. The 2011 census was performed on 1–28 April 2011, recording situation as of 31 March 2011. The first census results, containing the number of the population by settlement, was published on 29 June 2011. A comprehensive set of data is expected to be published in 2012. The 2011 census and processing of the data gathered by the census is expected to cost 171.9 million kunaCroatian kuna
The kuna is the currency of Croatia since 1994 . It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Monetary Institute....
(23.3 million euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
). The 2011 census was performed using new methodology: the permanent population was determined as the enumerated population who lived in the census area for at least 12 months prior to the census, or plans to live in the same area for at least 12 months after the census. This method was also retroactively applied to the 2001 census data.
| Year | Enumerated population | Permanent population | Average annual growth rate | Population density per km2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1857 | 2,181,499 | - | 38.6 | |
| 1869 | 2,398,292 | 0.87% | 42.4 | |
| 1880 | 2,506,228 | 0.37% | 44.3 | |
| 1890 | 2,854,558 | 1.31% | 50.5 | |
| 1900 | 3,161,456 | 1.03% | 55.9 | |
| 1910 | 3,460,584 | 0.91% | 61.2 | |
| 1921 | 3,443,375 | -0.05% | 60.9 | |
| 1931 | 3,785,455 | 0.95% | 67.0 | |
| 1948 | 3,779,958 | -0.01% | 66.9 | |
| 1953 | 3,936,022 | 0.81% | 69.6 | |
| 1961 | 4,159,696 | 0.69% | 73.6 | |
| 1971 | 4,426,221 | 0.62% | 78.3 | |
| 1981 | 4,601,469 | 0.39% | 81.4 | |
| 1991 | 4,784,265 | 0.39% | 84.6 | |
| 2001 | 4,492,049 | 4,437,460 | -0.63% | 79.4 |
| 2011 | 4,456,096 | 4,290,612 | 75.8 | |
| Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics Note:2011 population density is calculated using the permanent population figure. |
||||
| Births and deaths before WW I | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Average population (x 1000) | Live births | Deaths | Natural change | Crude birth rate (per 1000) | Crude death rate (per 1000) | Natural change (per 1000) |
| 1900 | 2 375 | 97 000 | 65 000 | 32 000 | 40.7 | 27.5 | 13.2 |
| 1901 | 2 432 | 95 000 | 67 000 | 28 000 | 39.2 | 27.4 | 11.8 |
| 1902 | 2 431 | 101 000 | 67 000 | 34 000 | 41.5 | 27.6 | 13.9 |
| 1903 | 2 462 | 97 000 | 66 000 | 31 000 | 39.3 | 26.9 | 12.4 |
| 1904 | 2 477 | 99 000 | 65 000 | 34 000 | 40.0 | 26.2 | 13.8 |
| 1905 | 2 493 | 100 000 | 75 000 | 25 000 | 40.1 | 30.1 | 10.0 |
| 1906 | 2 515 | 100 000 | 66 000 | 34 000 | 39.7 | 26.3 | 13.4 |
| 1907 | 2 550 | 100 000 | 65 000 | 35 000 | 39.3 | 25.4 | 13.9 |
| 1908 | 2 560 | 100 000 | 70 000 | 30 000 | 39.2 | 27.2 | 12.0 |
| 1909 | 2 588 | 108 000 | 69 000 | 39 000 | 41.7 | 26.7 | 15.0 |
| 1910 | 2 616 | 99 000 | 65 000 | 34 000 | 37.9 | 24.8 | 13.1 |
| 1911 | 2 628 | 95 000 | 69 000 | 26 000 | 36.0 | 26.4 | 9.6 |
| 1912 | 2 654 | 101 000 | 67 000 | 34 000 | 38.1 | 25.2 | 12.9 |
| 1913 | 2 663 | 95 000 | 68 000 | 27 000 | 35.7 | 25.5 | 10.2 |
| 1914 | 2 675 | 98 000 | 66 000 | 32 000 | 36.6 | 24.7 | 11.9 |
| Source: Brian R. Mitchell, European historical statistics, 1750-1975 | |||||||
| Births and deaths after WW II | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Average population (x 1000) | Live births | Deaths | Natural change | Crude birth rate (per 1000) | Crude death rate (per 1000) | Natural change (per 1000) |
| 1947 (e) | 3 756 | 83 700 | 44 000 | 39 700 | 22.3 | 11.7 | 10.6 |
| 1948 (e) | 3 788 | 89 700 | 47 100 | 42 600 | 23.7 | 12.4 | 11.2 |
| 1949 (e) | 3 821 | 97 100 | 47 800 | 49 300 | 25.4 | 12.5 | 12.9 |
| 1947 | 3 756 | 83 700 | 44 000 | 39 700 | 22.3 | 11.7 | 10.6 |
| 1948 | 3 788 | 89 700 | 47 100 | 42 600 | 23.7 | 12.4 | 11.2 |
| 1949 | 3 821 | 97 100 | 47 800 | 49 300 | 25.4 | 12.5 | 12.9 |
| 1950 | 3 861 | 95 560 | 47 292 | 48 268 | 24.8 | 12.2 | 12.5 |
| 1951 | 3 882 | 87 564 | 49 804 | 37 760 | 22.6 | 12.8 | 9.7 |
| 1952 | 3 913 | 91 612 | 43 512 | 48 100 | 23.4 | 11.1 | 12.3 |
| 1953 | 3 946 | 90 200 | 46 662 | 43 538 | 22.9 | 11.8 | 11.0 |
| 1954 | 3 979 | 89 309 | 41 071 | 48 238 | 22.4 | 10.3 | 12.1 |
| 1955 | 4 011 | 88 657 | 42 035 | 46 622 | 22.1 | 10.5 | 11.6 |
| 1956 | 4 040 | 86 171 | 43 772 | 42 399 | 21.3 | 10.8 | 10.5 |
| 1957 | 4 066 | 81 414 | 40 261 | 41 153 | 20.0 | 9.9 | 10.1 |
| 1958 | 4 090 | 77 771 | 37 980 | 39 791 | 19.0 | 9.3 | 9.7 |
| 1959 | 4 115 | 78 233 | 40 688 | 37 545 | 19.0 | 9.9 | 9.1 |
| 1960 | 4 140 | 76 156 | 41 361 | 34 795 | 18.4 | 10.0 | 8.4 |
| 1961 | 4 169 | 74 190 | 37 796 | 36 394 | 17.8 | 9.1 | 8.7 |
| 1962 | 4 200 | 72 267 | 42 134 | 30 133 | 17.2 | 10.0 | 7.2 |
| 1963 | 4 232 | 69 875 | 38 597 | 31 278 | 16.5 | 9.1 | 7.4 |
| 1964 | 4 246 | 68 843 | 43 013 | 25 830 | 16.2 | 10.1 | 6.1 |
| 1965 | 4 273 | 71 186 | 39 936 | 31 250 | 16.7 | 9.3 | 7.3 |
| 1966 | 4 300 | 71 245 | 37 941 | 33 304 | 16.6 | 8.8 | 7.7 |
| 1967 | 4 326 | 67 103 | 41 381 | 25 722 | 15.5 | 9.6 | 5.9 |
| 1968 | 4 353 | 65 431 | 43 720 | 21 711 | 15.0 | 10.0 | 5.0 |
| 1969 | 4 379 | 63 635 | 46 844 | 16 791 | 14.5 | 10.7 | 3.8 |
| 1970 | 4 406 | 61 103 | 44 148 | 16 955 | 13.9 | 10.0 | 3.8 |
| 1971 | 4 430 | 64 890 | 44 878 | 20 012 | 14.6 | 10.1 | 4.5 |
| 1972 | 4 447 | 66 035 | 47 881 | 18 154 | 14.8 | 10.8 | 4.1 |
| 1973 | 4 465 | 67 389 | 45 680 | 21 709 | 15.1 | 10.2 | 4.9 |
| 1974 | 4 482 | 67 251 | 44 950 | 22 301 | 15.0 | 10.0 | 5.0 |
| 1975 | 4 500 | 67 016 | 45 640 | 21 376 | 14.9 | 10.1 | 4.8 |
| 1976 | 4 517 | 67 054 | 45 074 | 21 980 | 14.8 | 10.0 | 4.9 |
| 1977 | 4 535 | 68 035 | 45 156 | 22 879 | 15.0 | 10.0 | 5.0 |
| 1978 | 4 553 | 68 704 | 48 715 | 19 989 | 15.1 | 10.7 | 4.4 |
| 1979 | 4 570 | 69 229 | 48 426 | 20 803 | 15.1 | 10.6 | 4.6 |
| 1980 | 4 588 | 68 220 | 50 100 | 18 120 | 14.9 | 10.9 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 4 608 | 67 455 | 51 420 | 16 035 | 14.6 | 11.2 | 3.5 |
| 1982 | 4 635 | 66 737 | 50 770 | 15 967 | 14.4 | 11.0 | 3.4 |
| 1983 | 4 659 | 65 599 | 55 147 | 10 452 | 14.1 | 11.8 | 2.2 |
| 1984 | 4 680 | 64 909 | 54 169 | 10 740 | 13.9 | 11.6 | 2.3 |
| 1985 | 4 702 | 62 665 | 52 067 | 10 598 | 13.3 | 11.1 | 2.3 |
| 1986 | 4 722 | 60 226 | 51 740 | 8 486 | 12.8 | 11.0 | 1.8 |
| 1987 | 4 740 | 59 209 | 53 080 | 6 129 | 12.6 | 11.3 | 1.3 |
| 1988 | 4 757 | 58 525 | 52 686 | 5 839 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 1.2 |
| 1989 | 4 767 | 55 651 | 52 569 | 3 082 | 11.7 | 11.0 | 0.6 |
| 1990 | 4 778 | 55 409 | 52 192 | 3 217 | 11.6 | 10.9 | 0.7 |
| 1991 | 4 513 | 50 815 | 54 311 | -3 496 | 11.3 | 12.0 | -0.8 |
| 1992 | 4 470 | 44 679 | 51 323 | -6 644 | 10.0 | 11.5 | -1.5 |
| 1993 | 4 641 | 46 106 | 50 219 | -4 113 | 9.9 | 10.8 | -0.9 |
| 1994 | 4 649 | 45 426 | 48 802 | -3 376 | 9.8 | 10.5 | -0.7 |
| 1995 | 4 669 | 45 671 | 49 826 | -4 155 | 9.8 | 10.7 | -0.9 |
| 1996 | 4 494 | 48 218 | 49 657 | -1 439 | 10.7 | 11.0 | -0.3 |
| 1997 | 4 572 | 48 604 | 50 801 | -2 197 | 10.6 | 11.1 | -0.5 |
| 1998 | 4 501 | 47 068 | 52 311 | -5 243 | 10.5 | 11.6 | -1.2 |
| 1999 | 4 554 | 45 179 | 51 593 | -6 414 | 9.9 | 11.3 | -1.4 |
| 2000 | 4 381 | 43 746 | 50 246 | -6 500 | 10.0 | 11.5 | -1.5 |
| 2001 | 4 437 | 40 993 | 49 552 | -8 559 | 9.2 | 11.2 | -1.9 |
| 2002 | 4 443 | 40 094 | 50 569 | -10 475 | 9.0 | 11.4 | -2.4 |
| 2003 | 4 442 | 39 668 | 52 575 | -12 907 | 8.9 | 11.8 | -2.9 |
| 2004 | 4 439 | 40 307 | 49 756 | -9 449 | 9.1 | 11.2 | -2.1 |
| 2005 | 4 442 | 42 492 | 51 790 | -9 298 | 9.6 | 11.7 | -2.1 |
| 2006 | 4 440 | 41 446 | 50 378 | -8 932 | 9.3 | 11.3 | -2.0 |
| 2007 | 4 438 | 41 910 | 52 367 | -10 457 | 9.4 | 11.8 | -2.4 |
| 2008 | 4 434 | 43 753 | 52 151 | -8 398 | 9.9 | 11.8 | -1.9 |
| 2009 | 4 431 | 44 577 | 52 414 | -7 837 | 10.1 | 11.8 | -1.7 |
| 2010 | 4 291 | 43 361 | 52 096 | -8 735 | 10.1 | 12.1 | -2.0 |
| Sources: Institut national d'études démographiques Institut national d'études démographiques The Institut national d'études démographiques is a French research institute specialized in demography and population studies in general.-A research institute founded in 1945:... , Croatian Bureau of Statistics |
|||||||
Ethnic groups
Croatia is inhabited mostly by Croats (89.6%), while minority groups include SerbsSerbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
(4.5%), Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
, Hungarians, Italians, Slovenes, Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, Czechs, Romani people and others (5.9%). The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia
Constitution of Croatia
The current Constitution of the Republic of Croatia was adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia on December 22, 1990. It replaced the Constitution of 1974 ratified in socialist Yugoslavia...
specifies 22 minorities explicitly. Those are Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
, Italians, Hungarians, Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, Germans, Austrians
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
, Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, Ruthenians
Ruthenians
The name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...
, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
, Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
, Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, Romani, Rumanians, Turks, Vlachs
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
and Albanians
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
.
| Ethnic group |
census 1948 | census 1953 | census 1961 | census 1971 | census 1981 | census 1991 | census 2001 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Croats Croats Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have... |
2,975,399 | 79.2 | 3,117,513 | 79.6 | 3,339,841 | 80.3 | 3,513,647 | 79.4 | 3,454,661 | 75.1 | 3,736,356 | 78.1 | 3,977,171 | 89.6 |
| Serbs Serbs of Croatia Višeslav of Serbia, a contemporary of Charlemagne , ruled the Županias of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim, his ancestral lands. According to the Royal Frankish Annals , Duke of Pannonia Ljudevit Posavski fled, during the Frankish invasion, from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs in western Bosnia, who... |
543,795 | 14.5 | 588,411 | 15.0 | 624,985 | 15.0 | 626,789 | 14.2 | 531,502 | 11.6 | 581,663 | 12.2 | 201,631 | 4.5 |
| Yugoslavs Yugoslavs Yugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora... |
15,559 | 0.4 | 84,118 | 1.9 | 379,057 | 8.2 | 106,041 | 2.2 | 176 | 0.0 | ||||
| Muslims Muslims by nationality Muslims by nationality was a term used in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as an official designation of nationality of Slavic Muslims. They were one of the constitutive groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina... |
1,077 | 0.0 | 16,185 | 0.4 | 3,113 | 0.1 | 18,457 | 0.4 | 23,740 | 0.5 | - | 19,677 | 0.4 | |
| Bosniaks Bosniaks of Croatia Bosniaks of Croatia are one of the ethnic minorities of Republic of Croatia. According to 2001 census, there was 20,755 Bosniaks living in Croatia , from which most live in the capital Zagreb.... |
20,755 | 0.5 | ||||||||||||
| Italians Italians of Croatia Italians of Croatia are an autochthonous national minority recognized by the Constitution of Croatia. There are two major groups of Italians in Croatia:* Istrian Italians* Dalmatian Italians... |
76,093 | 2.0 | 33,316 | 0.9 | 21,103 | 0.5 | 17,433 | 0.4 | 11,661 | 0.3 | 21,303 | 0.4 | 19,636 | 0.4 |
| Hungarians Hungarians of Croatia Hungarians of Croatia are a recognized ethnic minority. According to the 2001 census there are around 16,500 people of Hungarian ethnicity living in Croatia . Around two thirds of them live in Osijek-Baranja County in eastern Croatia, especially in the Croatian part of the Baranya region which... |
51,399 | 1.4 | 47,711 | 1.2 | 42,347 | 1.0 | 35,488 | 0.8 | 25,439 | 0.6 | 22,355 | 0.5 | 16,595 | 0.4 |
| Albanians | 635 | 0.0 | 1,001 | 0.0 | 2,126 | 0.1 | 4,175 | 0.1 | 6,006 | 0.1 | 12,032 | 0.3 | 15,082 | 0.3 |
| Slovenes Slovenes of Croatia Slovenes of Croatia are one of 22 national minorities in Croatia.According to 2001 census, there was 13,173 Slovenes in Croatia, from which most of them lived in Zagreb.-Culture:... |
38,734 | 1.0 | 43,010 | 1.1 | 39,101 | 0.9 | 32,497 | 0.7 | 25,136 | 0.5 | 22,376 | 0.5 | 13,173 | 0.3 |
| Czechs | 28,991 | 0.8 | 25,954 | 0.7 | 23,391 | 0.6 | 19,001 | 0.4 | 15,061 | 0.3 | 13,086 | 0.3 | 10,510 | 0.2 |
| Roma | 405 | 0.0 | 1,261 | 0.0 | 313 | 0.0 | 1,257 | 0.0 | 3,858 | 0.1 | 6,695 | 0.1 | 9,463 | 0.2 |
| Montenegrins Montenegrins of Croatia The Montenegrins of Croatia are a national minority in the republic. According to the 2001 census, there are 4,926 ethnic Montenegrins in Croatia. The highest number of Montenegrins in Croatia is in the Croatian capital Zagreb.... |
2,871 | 0.1 | 5,128 | 0.1 | 7,465 | 0.2 | 9,706 | 0.2 | 9,818 | 0.2 | 9,724 | 0.2 | 4,926 | 0.1 |
| Macedonians Macedonians (ethnic group) The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness... |
1,387 | 0.0 | 2,385 | 0.1 | 4,381 | 0.1 | 5,625 | 0.1 | 5,362 | 0.1 | 6,280 | 0.1 | 4,270 | 0.1 |
| Others/undeclared | 36,021 | 1.0 | 36,942 | 0.9 | 35,971 | 0.9 | 58,028 | 1.3 | 110,168 | 2.4 | 246,354 | 5.1 | 124,3952 | 2.8 |
| Total | 3,756,807 | 3,918,817 | 4,159,696 | 4,426,221 | 4,601,469 | 4,784,265 | 4,437,460 | |||||||
| 1 Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics 2 including Austrians Austrians Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent.... 247 0.01%, Bulgarians Bulgarians The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:... 331 0.01%, Germans Germans The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages.... 2,902 0.07%, Jews Jews The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation... 576 0.01%, Poles Poles thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe... 567 0.01%, Romanians Romanians The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania.... 475 0.01%, Russians Russians The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.... 906 0.02%, Ruthenians Ruthenians The name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians... 2,337 0.05, Slovaks Slovaks The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia... 4,712 0.11% Turks Turkish people Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania... 300 0.01%, Ukrainians Ukrainians Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens... 1,977 0.04%, Vlachs Vlachs Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs... 12 0.00% |
||||||||||||||
Significant migrations
De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio is the Latin title of a Greek work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is...
written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
, the Croats arrived in the area of modern-day Croatia in the early 7th century. However, that claim is disputed, and competing hypotheses date the event between the 6th and the 9th centuries. Following the establishment of a personal union of Croatia and Hungary
Croatia in personal union with Hungary
Kingdom of Croatia after the succession crisis become a part of Kingdom of Hungary and — depending on sources — either was incorporated into Hungary or Croatia existed in a personal union with Hungary....
in 1102, and the joining of the Habsburg Empire in 1527, the Hungarian and German speaking population of Croatia began gradually increasing in number. The processes of Magyarization
Magyarization
Magyarization is a kind of assimilation or acculturation, a process by which non-Magyar elements came to adopt Magyar culture and language due to social pressure .Defiance or appeals to the Nationalities Law, met...
and Germanization varied in intensity but persisted to the 20th century. The Ottoman conquests
Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War
The Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War is the name for a sequence of conflicts, mostly of relatively low-intensity, between the Kingdom of Croatia, which in that period was ruled by a succession of dynasties and Ottoman Empires.- Time span :There are several different variations about the exact...
initiated a westward migration of parts of the Croatian population; the Burgenland Croats
Burgenland Croats
Burgenland Croats are ethnic Croats in the Austrian state of Burgenland. Although an enclave hundreds of kilometres away from their original homeland, they have managed to preserve culture and language for centuries...
are direct descendants of some of those settlers. To replace the fleeing Croats the Habsburgs called on the Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
populations of Bosnia and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
to provide military service in the Croatian Military Frontier. Serb migration into this region peaked during the Great Serb Migrations of 1690 and 1737–39. Similarly, Venetian Republic rule in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
and in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, following the Fifth
Cretan War (1645–1669)
The Cretan War or War of Candia , as the Fifth Ottoman–Venetian War is better known, was a conflict between the Republic of Venice and her allies against the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary States, fought over the island of Crete, Venice's largest and richest overseas possession...
and the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian Wars ushered gradual growth of Italian speaking population in those areas. Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
in 1918, the Hungarian population declined, especially in the areas north of the Drava
Drava
Drava or Drave is a river in southern Central Europe, a tributary of the Danube. It sources in Toblach/Dobbiaco, Italy, and flows east through East Tirol and Carinthia in Austria, into Slovenia , and then southeast, passing through Croatia and forming most of the border between Croatia and...
river, where they represented the majority before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
The period between 1890 and World War I was marked by large economic emigration from Croatia to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and particularly to the areas of Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Besides the United States, the main destination of the migrants was South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, especially Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. It is estimated that 500,000 people left Croatia during this period. After World War I, the main focus of emigration shifted to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, where about 15,000 people settled before the onset of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. During World War II and in the period immediately following the war, there were further significant demographic changes as the German speaking population, the Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
, were either forced or otherwise compelled to leave—reducing their number from the prewar German population of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
of 500,000, living in parts of present-day Croatia and Serbia, to the figure of 62,000 recorded in the 1953 census. A similar fate
Istrian exodus
The expression Istrian exodus or Istrian-Dalmatian exodus is used to indicate the departure of ethnic Italians from Istria, Rijeka, and Dalmatia , after World War II. At the time of the exodus, these territories were part of the SR Croatia and SR Slovenia , today they are parts of the Republics of...
was suffered by the Italian population in Yugoslavia populating parts of present-day Croatia and Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, as 350,000 left for Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The 1940s and the 1950s in Yugoslavia were marked by colonisation of settlements where the displaced Germans used to live, by people from the mountainous parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, and migrations to larger cities spurred on by the development of industry. In the 1960s and 1970s, another wave of economic migrants left Croatia. They largely moved to Canada, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
. During this period, 65,000 people left for Canada, and by the mid-1970s there were 150,000 Croats who moved to Australia. Particularly large European emigrant communities of Croats exist in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, which largely stem from the 1960s and 1970s migrations.
The most recent significant migrations came as a result of the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. In 1991, more than 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were displaced by the Croatian Serb forces or fled the violence in areas with significant Serb populations. During the final days of the war, in 1995, between 120,000 and 200,000 Serbs fled the country before the arrival of the Croatian forces during Operation Storm
Operation Storm
Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
. Ten years after the war, only 117,000 Serb refugees returned out of the 300,000 displaced during the entire war. Most of the Serbs in Croatia who remained never lived in areas occupied during the Croatian War of Independence. Serbs have been only partially re-settled in the regions they previously inhabited, but some of the areas previously inhabited by Serbs were later settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, largely from the Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
.
Demographic losses in the 20th century wars and pandemics
In addition to demographic losses through significant migrations, the population of Croatia suffered significant losses due to wars and epidemics. In the 20th century alone, there were several such events. The first was World War I, when the loss of the population of Croatia amounted to an estimated 190,000 persons, or about 5.5% of the total population recorded by the 1910 census. The 1918 flu pandemic started to take its toll in Croatia in July 1918, with peaks of the disease occurring in October and November. Available data is scarce, but it is estimated that the pandemic caused at least 15,000–20,000 deaths. During World War II, nearly 195,000 people died in the territory of present-day Croatia. The surrender of the armed forces of the Independent State of CroatiaIndependent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
and of the civilians accompanying the troops of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
at the end of World War II was followed by repatriation
Operation Keelhaul
Operation Keelhaul was carried out in Northern Italy by British and American forces to repatriate Soviet Armed Forces POWs of the Nazis to the Soviet Union between August 14, 1946 and May 9, 1947...
and subsequent events that became known as Bleiburg massacre
Bleiburg massacre
The Bleiburg massacre, which also encompasses Operation Keelhaul is a term encompassing events that took place during mid-May 1945 near the Carinthian town of Bleiburg, itself some four kilometres from the Austrian-Slovenian border....
. A substantial number of people were executed, but the exact number is disputed. The claims range from 12,000–15,000 to as many as 80,000 killed in May 1945. Finally, approximately 20,000 were killed or went missing during the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. The figure pertains only to those persons who would have been recorded by the 1991 census as living in Croatia.
Languages
The Croatian languageCroatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
is the official language of Croatia, and it is expected to become the 24th official language of the European Union upon Croatia's entrance into the EU in 2013. Minority languages are in official use in local government units where more than a third of the population consists of national minorities or where local legislation mandates their use. These languages are Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Ruthenian
Ruthenian language
Ruthenian, or Old Ruthenian , is a term used for the varieties of Eastern Slavonic spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in the East Slavic territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth....
, Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
and Slovakian. According to the 2001 Census, 96% of citizens of Croatia declared Croatian as their native language, 1% declared Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
as their native language, while no other language is represented in Croatia by more than 0.5% of native speakers among the population of Croatia.
Croatian replaced Latin as the official language of the Croatian government in the 19th century. It is a South Slavic language
South Slavic languages
The South Slavic languages comprise one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches by a belt of German, Hungarian and Romanian speakers...
, and most Croatian vocabulary is derived from the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Croatian is written using the Latin alphabet and has three major dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s, with Shtokavian dialect
Shtokavian dialect
Shtokavian or Štokavian is the prestige dialect of the Serbo-Croatian language, and the basis of its Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin standards...
used as the standard Croatian, and Chakavian
Chakavian dialect
Chakavian or Čakavian is a dialect of the Croatian language. The name stems from the word for "what?", which is "ča" in Čakavian...
and Kajkavian
Kajkavian dialect
The Kajkavian dialect is one of the three main dialects of Croatian. It has low mutual intelligibility with the other two dialects, Štokavian and Čakavian. All three are named after their word for "what?", which in Kajkavian is kaj....
dialects distinguished by their lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
, phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
, and syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
.
From 1961 to 1991, the official language was Serbo-Croatian. Even during socialist rule
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, Croats often referred to their language as Croato-Serbian (instead of Serbo-Croatian) or as Croatian. Croatian and Serbian variants of the language were not officially recognised as different at the time, but referred to as the west and east version, and had different alphabets: the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
and Serbian Cyrillic
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
. Croatians are protective of the their language from foreign influences, as the language was under constant change and threats imposed by previous rulers (i.e. Austrian German, Hungarian, Italian and Turkish words were changed and altered to "Slavic" looking/sounding ones). Efforts made to impose policies to alter Croatian into "Serbo-Croatian" or a "South Slavic" language met resistance from Croats in the form of Croatian linguistic purism
Croatian linguistic purism
One of the features of standard Croatian language and in common with several languages such as Czech, Finnish, Slovenian, Tamil or Turkish is word coinage using roots or elements perceived as being characteristic or unique to the speech of the community....
.
A 2009 survey revealed that 78% of Croatians claim knowledge of at least one foreign language. According to a survey ordered by the European commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
in 2005, 49% of Croatians speak English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as their second language, 34% speak German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and 14% speak Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
are spoken by 4% each, and 2% of Croatians speak Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. A substantial proportion of Slovenes (59%) have a certain level of knowledge of the Croatian language.
Religions
The main religions of Croatia are Roman CatholicismRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
87.8%, Orthodox Christianity
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
4.4%, other Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
0.4%, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
1.3%, other unspecified 0.9%, and none 5.2%. In the Eurostat
Eurostat
Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide the European Union with statistical information at European level and to promote the integration of statistical methods across the Member States of the European Union,...
Eurobarometer Poll of 2005, 67% of the population of Croatia responded that "they believe there is a God" and 7% said they do not believe "there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force", while 25% expressed a belief in "some sort of spirit or life force". In a 2009 Gallup
The Gallup Organization
The Gallup Organization, is primarily a research-based performance-management consulting company. Some of Gallup's key practice areas are - Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement and Well-Being. Gallup has over 40 offices in 27 countries. World headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Operational...
poll, 70% answered affirmatively when asked "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" Significantly, a 2008 Gallup survey of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
indicated church and religious organisations as the most trusted institutions in the country. The survey revealed that 62% of the respondents assigned "a lot" or "some" trust to those institutions, ranking them ahead of all types of governmental, international or non-governmental institutions.
Public schools allow religious education, in cooperation with religious communities that have agreements with the government, but attendance is not mandatory. The classes are organized widely in public elementary and secondary schools. In 2009, 92% of elementary school pupils and 87% of secondary school students attended the religious education classes. Public holidays in Croatia
Public holidays in Croatia
Holidays in CroatiaNote: Citizens of the Republic of Croatia who celebrate different religious holidays have the right not to work on those dates...
also include the religious festival
Religious festival
A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are commonly celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar...
s of Epiphany, Easter Monday, Corpus Christi Day, Assumption Day, All Saints' Day, Christmas, and St. Stephen's or Boxing Day. The religious festival public holidays are based on the Catholic liturgical year
Liturgical year
The liturgical year, also known as the church year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read. Distinct liturgical colours may appear in...
, but citizens of the Republic of Croatia who celebrate different religious holidays have the right not to work on those dates. This includes Christians who celebrate Christmas on January 7 per the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
, Muslims on the days of Ramadan Bayram and Kurban Bayram, and Jews on the days of Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah , , is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im which occur in the autumn...
and Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
. Marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
s performed by the religious communities having agreements with the state are officially recognized, eliminating the need to register the marriages in a registrar office.
The legal position of religious communities is defined by special legislation, specifically regarding government funding, tax benefits, and religious education in schools. Other matters are left to each religious community to negotiate separately with the government. Registration of the communities is not mandatory, but registered communities become legal persons and enjoy tax and other benefits. The law stipulates that to be eligible for registration, a religious group must have at least 500 believers and be registered as a civil association for 5 years. Religious groups based abroad must submit written permission for registration from their country of origin.
Education
Literacy in Croatia is currently 98.1 percent. The 2001 census reported that 15.7% of the population over the age of 14 has an incomplete elementary education, and 21.9% has only an elementary school education. 42.8% of the population over the age of 14 has a vocational educationVocational education
Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...
and 4.9% completed gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
. 4.2% of the same population received an undergraduate degree
Undergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree is a colloquial term for an academic degree taken by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. It is usually offered at an institution of higher education, such as a university...
, while 7.5% received an academic degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
, and 0.5% received a postgraduate or a doctoral degree. Croatia recorded a substantial growth of the population attaining academic degrees and by 2008, this population segment was estimated to encompass 16.7% of the total population of Croatians 15 and over. A worldwide study about the quality of living in different countries published by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
in August 2010 ranked the Croatian education system at 22nd, a position shared with Austria. In 2004, it was estimated that 4.5% of the GDP is spent for education, while schooling expectancy was estimated to 14 years on average. Primary education in Croatia starts at the age of six or seven and consists of eight grades. In 2007 a law was passed to increase free, noncompulsory education until 18 years of age. Compulsory education consists of eight grades of elementary school. Secondary education is provided by gymnasiums
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
and vocational school
Vocational school
A vocational school , providing vocational education, is a school in which students are taught the skills needed to perform a particular job...
s. As of 2010, there are 2,131 elementary schools and 713 schools providing various forms of secondary education. Primary and secondary education are also available in languages of recognised minorities in Croatia, where classes are held in Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, Italian, Serbian and German languages.
Music school
The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...
and art schools, as well as 92 schools for disabled children and youth and 74 schools for adults. Nationwide leaving exams
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
were introduced for secondary education students in the 2009–2010 school year. It comprises three compulsory subjects (Croatian language, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, and a foreign language) and optional subjects and is a prerequisite for a university education.
Croatia has eight universities, the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
, University of Split
University of Split
The University of Split is a university located in Split, Croatia. It was founded in 1974. and is organized in 13 faculties and 124 faculty programmes...
, University of Rijeka
University of Rijeka
The University of Rijeka is situated in the city of Rijeka with faculties also located in cities throughout the regions of Primorje, Istria and Lika....
, University of Osijek
University of Osijek
The Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek is a university located in Osijek, Croatia. It was founded in 1975 and is organized in 11 faculties.-History:...
, University of Zadar
University of Zadar
The University of Zadar is a university located in Zadar, Croatia. It was founded in 2002.- University Departments :The University of Zadar is entirely integrated university, consisting at present of over 20 departments:...
, University of Dubrovnik
University of Dubrovnik
The University of Dubrovnik is a university located in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was founded in 2003 and is organized in 7 Departments.-History:...
, University of Pula
University of Pula
The Juraj Dobrila University of Pula is a university located in Pula, Croatia. It was founded in 2006 and is organized in 5 Departments.-History:...
and Dubrovnik International University
Dubrovnik International University
Dubrovnik International University is a private university established in 2008 under the auspices of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and in conjunction with both Croatian and American institutions. It is located within the Dominican Monastery in Dubrovnik, Croatia and is the first...
.
The University of Zadar, the first university in Croatia, was founded in 1396 and remained active until 1807, when other institutions of higher education took over. It was reopened in 2002. The University of Zagreb, founded in 1669, is the oldest continuously operating university in Southeast Europe. There are also 11 polytechnics
Institute of technology
Institute of technology is a designation employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system...
and 23 higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
institutions, of which 19 are private. In total, there are 132 institutions of higher education in Croatia, attended by more than 145 thousand students.
There are 205 companies, government or education system institutions and non-profit organizations in Croatia pursuing scientific research and the development of technology. Combined, they spent more than 3 billion kuna (400 million euro) and employed 10,191 full-time research staff in 2008. Among the scientific institutes operating in Croatia, the largest is the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb. The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Croatia. It was founded in 1866 as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts , and was known by that name for most of its existence.- History :...
in Zagreb is a learned society
Learned society
A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...
promoting language, culture, arts and science since its inception in 1866. Scientists from Croatia include inventors and Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winners.
Health
Croatia has a universal health careUniversal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
system, the roots of which can be traced back to the Hungarian-Croatian Parliament Act of 1891, providing a form of mandatory insurance for all factory workers and craftsmen. The population is covered by a basic health insurance plan provided by statute and optional insurance. In 2009, the annual healthcare related expenditures reached 20.6 billion kuna (2.75 billion euro). Healthcare expenditures comprise only 0.6% of private health insurance and public spending. In 2010, Croatia spent 6.9% of its GDP on healthcare, representing a decline from approximately 8% estimated in 2008, when 84% of healthcare spending came from public sources. According to the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO), Croatia ranks around the 50th in the world in terms of life expectancy.
There are hundreds of healthcare institutions in Croatia, including 79 hospitals and clinics with 23,967 beds. The hospitals and clinics care for more than 700 thousand patients per year and employ 5,205 medical doctors
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, including 3,929 specialists. There are 6,379 private practice offices, and a total of 41,271 health workers in the country. There are 63 emergency medical service units, responding to more than a million calls. The principal cause of death in 2008 was cardiovascular disease at 43.5% for men and 57.2% for women, followed by tumours, at 29.4% for men and 21.4% for women. Other significant causes of death are injuries, poisonings and other external causes (7.7% men/3.9% women), digestive system diseases (5.7% men/3.6% women), respiratory system diseases (5.1% men/3.5% women) and endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (2.1% men/3.0% women). There is no other cause of disease affecting more than 3% of the population. In 2009 only 13 Croatians had been infected with HIV/AIDS and 6 had died from the disease. In 2008 it was estimated by the WHO that 27.4% of Croatians over age of 15 were smokers. According to 2003 WHO data, 22% of the Croatian adult population is obese.
Personal income, jobs and unemployment
Net monthly income in September 2011 averaged 5,397 kunaCroatian kuna
The kuna is the currency of Croatia since 1994 . It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Monetary Institute....
( 729 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
), dropping 2.1% relative to the previous month. In the same month, gross monthly income averaged 7,740 kuna ( 1,046 euro), and it includes the net salary along with income tax, retirement pension insurance
Social insurance
Social insurance is any government-sponsored program with the following four characteristics:* the benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;...
, healthcare insurance, occupational safety and health
Occupational safety and health
Occupational safety and health is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goal of all occupational safety and health programs is to foster a safe work environment...
insurance and employment promotion tax. The average net monthly income grew compared to 5,311 kuna ( 717 euro) in 2009 or 3,326 kuna ( 449 euro) in 2000. The highest net salaries were paid in financial services sector, and in April 2011 those averaged 10,041 kuna ( 1,356 euro), while the lowest ones, paid in the same month, were in the manufacturing and leather processing industries, averaging at 2,811 kuna ( 380 euro). Since June 2011, the minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
in Croatia is 2,814 kuna ( 380 euro).
Number of employed persons recorded steady growth between 2000 and 2008 when it peaked, followed by 4% decline in 2009. That year, there were 1.499 million employed persons, with 45% of that number pertaining to women. The total number of employed persons includes 252,000 employed in crafts and freelance professionals and 35,000 employed in agriculture. The most significant sources of employment in 2008 were manufacturing industry and wholesale and retail trade (including motor vehicle repair services) employing 278,640 and 243,640 respectively. Further significant employment sector was construction industry comprising 143,336 jobs that year. In the same year, more than 100,000 were employed in public administration, defence and compulsory social insurance sector as well as in education. Since 2009, negative trends persisted in Croatia with jobs in the industry declined further by 3.5%. Number of unemployed and retired persons combined exceeded number of employed in August 2010, as it fell to 1.474 million. In 2009, labour force consisted of 1.765 million persons out of 3.7 million working age population—aged 15 and over. In October 2011, unemployment rate stood at 17.4%. 7.2% of employed persons hold a second job.
In comparison with the member states of the European Union
Member State of the European Union
A member state of the European Union is a state that is party to treaties of the European Union and has thereby undertaken the privileges and obligations that EU membership entails. Unlike membership of an international organisation, being an EU member state places a country under binding laws in...
(EU), Croatia's median equivalent household income in terms of the Purchasing Power Standard (PPS) stands at 470, topping average PPS of the ten countries which joined the EU in 2004
2004 enlargement of the European Union
The 2004 enlargement of the European Union was the largest single expansion of the European Union , both in terms of territory, number of states and population, however not in terms of gross domestic product...
(EU10), as well as Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, while significantly lagging behind the EU average. Within Croatia, the highest PPS is recorded in Istria County
Istria County
Istria County is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the biggest part of the Istrian peninsula . The area of the county is called Istra in Croatian and Slovene...
(769), the City of Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
(640) and the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Primorje-Gorski kotar County is a county in western Croatia that includes the Bay of Kvarner and the surrounding Northern Croatian seacoast, and the mountainous region of Gorski kotar...
(576). The lowest PPS is observed in the Bjelovar-Bilogora County
Bjelovar-Bilogora County
Bjelovar-Bilogora County is a county in central Croatia.The central town of Bjelovar was first mentioned in 1413, and it only gained importance when a new fort was built in 1756 to defend against the Ottoman invasions...
and the Virovitica-Podravina County
Virovitica-Podravina County
Virovitica-Podravina county is a northern Slavonian county in Croatia. Its county seat is in Virovitica and it includes the area around the Drava river, hence the name Podravina...
(267).
Urbanisation and housing
2011 census recorded a total of 1,534,148 private households in Croatia as well as 1,487 other residential communities such as retirement homes, convents etc. At the same time, there were 1,923,522 permanent housing units—houses and apartments. 2001 census recorded 1.66 million permanent housing units, including 196 thousand intermittently occupied and 42 thousand abandoned ones. Average size of a permanently used housing unit is 74.4 square metres (89 sq yd). The intermittently used housing units include 182 thousand vacation houses and 8 thousand houses used during agricultural works. The same census also recorded 25 thousand housing units used for business purposes only. As of 2007, 71% of the households owned their own housing and had no mortgage or other loans to repay related to the housing, while further 9% were repaying loans for their housing. The households vary by type and include single households (13%), couples (15%), single parent households (4%), couples with children (27%) and extended family households (20%). There are approximately 500 homeless persons in Croatia, largely living in Zagreb.Average urbanisation rate in Croatia stands at 56%, with the maximum rate recorded within the territory of the City of Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, where it reached 94.5% and Zagreb metropolitan area comprising the City of Zagreb and the Zagreb County
Zagreb County
Zagreb County is a county in central Croatia. It surrounds – but does not contain – the nation's capital Zagreb, which is a separate territorial unit. For that reason, it is often nicknamed "Zagreb ring"...
, where it stands at 76.4%. Very significant rate of urbanisation was observed in the second half of the 20th century. 1953 census recorded 57% of population which was active in agriculture, while a census performed in 1991
noted only 9.1% of population active in that field. This points to augmentation of urban population and reduction of rural population.
See also
- CroatsCroatsCroats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
- Croatian diasporaCroatian diasporaCroatian diaspora refers to the Croatian communities that have formed outside Croatia.Estimates on its size are only approximate because of incomplete statistical records and naturalization, but estimates suggest that the Croatian diaspora numbers between a third and a half of the total number of...
- Croatian Bureau of Statistics