Croatia |
|
| OVERVIEW |
| Background |
In 1918, the
Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929
as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a
federal independent Communist state under the strong hand
of Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence
from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but
often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly
cleared from Croatian lands. Under UN supervision, the last
Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia
in 1998. |
| Natural
resources |
oil, some coal, bauxite,
low-grade iron ore, calcium, natural asphalt, silica, mica,
clays, salt, hydropower |
| Land
use |
arable land: 23.55%
permanent crops: 2.24%
other: 74.21% (1998 est.) |
| Population |
4,422,248 (July 2003 est.)
|
| Ethnic
groups |
Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%,
Bosniak 0.5%, Hungarian 0.4%, Slovene 0.3%, Czech 0.2%, Roma
0.2%, Albanian 0.1%, Montenegrin 0.1%, others 4.1% (2001)
|
| Religions |
Roman Catholic 87.8%,
Orthodox 4.4%, Muslim 1.3%, Protestant 0.3%, others and unknown
6.2% (2001) |
| Languages |
Croatian 96%, other 4%
(including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German)
|
| Literacy |
definition: age 15 and
over can read and write
total population: 98.5%
male: 99.4%
female: 97.8% (2003 est.) |
| Capital |
Zagreb |
| Government
type |
presidential/parliamentary
democracy |
| Independence |
25 June 1991 (from Yugoslavia)
|
| National
holiday |
Statehood Day, 25 June
(1991) |
|
|
