General information: In 1918, the Croats, Serbs and Slovenes created a kingdom, which in 1929 received the name Yugoslavia. After World War II, Yugoslavia became an independent communist state under the strict rule of Marshal TITO (TITO). Although Croatia declared independence in 1991, it took four years of sporadic but often violent armed clashes before Serb forces completely abandoned Croatian lands. Under UN supervision, the last Serbian enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998. See areacodesexplorer.com to know more about Croatia History.
Geography
Location: Southeast Europe, Adriatic coast, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia.
Geographical coordinates: 45° 10′ N. latitude, 15° 30’E
Reference map: Europe.
Area: total: 56,542 km2; land surface area: 56,414 km2; water surface area: 128 km2
Comparative area: slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia.
Land borders: total: 2,028 km; with neighboring states: with Bosnia and Herzegovina 932 km, with Hungary 329 km, with Yugoslavia 266 km, with Slovenia 501 km.
Coastline: 5,835 km (mainland 1,777 km, islands 4,058 km).
Maritime claims: continental shelf: to a depth of 200 m or to the depth of field development; territorial waters: 12 nautical miles.
Climate: Mediterranean and continental; most of the territory has hot summers and cold winters; mild winters and dry summers on the coast.
Relief: varied; flat plains along the border with Hungary, low mountains and plateaus near the Adriatic coast, islands.
Maximum and minimum heights: lowest point: Adriatic Sea 0 m; highest point: Mount Dinara 1,830 m.
Natural resources: oil, some coal, bauxite, low grade iron ore, calcium, natural asphalt, quartz, mica, clay, salt, hydropower.
Land use: arable land: 21%; cultivated land: 2%; pastures: 20%; forests and plantations: 38%; others: 19% (1993 est.).
Irrigated land: 30 sq. km. (1993 est.).
Natural Hazards: Frequent and destructive earthquakes.
Actual environmental problems: air pollution (by metallurgical enterprises) and, as a result, acid rains that damage forests; pollution of coastal waters by industrial and domestic effluents; a large amount of destruction in the border areas as a result of the civil war of 1992-95.
International agreements on environmental protection: contributor: Air Pollution, Air Pollution – Sulfur 1994, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Pollution, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands; signed but not ratified: Air Pollution – Persistent Organic Pollutants, Kyoto Protocol. Note to the Geography section: controls most of the land routes from Western Europe to the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea straits.
Note to the section “Geography”:
Population
Population: 4,334,142 (July 2001 est.).
Age structure: under 14: 18.16% (male 403,722; female 383,151); 15 to 64 years old: 66.61% (male 1,452,872; female 1,434,086); over 65: 15.23% (male 245,727; female 414,584) (2001 est.).
Population growth: 1.48% (2001 est.).
Birth rate: 12.82 newborns / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Mortality: 11.41 deaths / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Migration: 13.37 people /1000 people (2001 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male/female; up to 15 years old: 1.05 male/female; from 15 to 64 years old: 1.01 male/female; over 65: 0.59 male/female; for the general population: 0.94 male/female (2001 est.);
Child mortality: 7.21 deaths/1000 births (2001 est.).
Life expectancy: for the general population: 73.9 years; men: 70.28 years; women: 77.73 years (2001 est.).
Total fertility rate: 1.94 children/wife (2001 est.). Proportion of adults infected with: HIV: 0.02% (1999 est.).
Proportion of adult population infected with HIV:
Number of people infected with HIV: 350 (1999 est.).
AIDS deaths: less than 100 (1999 est.).
Nationality: noun: Croatian; adjective: Croatian.
Ethnic groups: Croats 78.1%, Serbs 12.2%, Muslims 0.9%, Hungarians 0.5%, Slovenes 0.5%, Czechs 0.4%, Albanians 0.3%, Montenegrins 0.3%, Roma 0.2%, other 6.6% (1991).
Believers: Catholic 76.5%, Orthodox 11.1%, Muslim 1.2%, Protestant 0.4%, other and unknown 10.8% (1991).
Language(s): Croatian 96%, other 4% (primarily Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak and German).
Literacy: definition: persons aged 15 and over who can read and write; for the general population: 97%; men: 99%; women: 95% (1991 est.).
Politics
conventional long form: Republic of Croatia;
conventional short form: Croatia; local long form: Republika Hrvatska local short form: Hrvatska State system: presidential-parliamentary democracy.
State structure:
Capital: Zagreb.
Administrative division: 20 provinces (zupanija), 1 city*: Belovarsko-Belogorskaya, Brodsko-Posavskaya, Varazdinskaya, Virovititsko-Podravskaya, Vukovarsko-Sriemskaya, Dubrovatsko-Neretvanskaya, Zagreb*, Zagrebskaya, Zadarskaya, Istrian, Karlovatska, Koprivnitsko-Kryzhevatskaya, Krapinsko-Zagorskaya, Litsko-Senskaya, Medimurskaya, Ossetsko-Baranskaya, Pozhesko-Slavonskaya, Primorsko-Goranskaya, Sibensko-Kninskaya, Sisatsko-Moslavatskaya, Splitsko-Dalmatinskaya.
Dependent territories:
Independence: from June 25, 1991 (until 1991 – as part of Yugoslavia).
National holiday: Republic Day, May 30 (1990).
Constitution: adopted on December 22, 1990.
Legal system: based on the civil legal system.
Suffrage: from 18 years old, universal (from 16 years old for employees).
chief of state: President Stipe MESIC (since 18 February 2000);
head of government: Prime Minister Ivica RACAN (since 27 January 2000); Deputy Prime Ministers Goran GRANIC (since February 2000), Zeljka ANTUNOVIC (since February 2000), Slavko LINIC (since February 2000);
government: council of ministers appointed by the prime minister and approved by the president and the House of Representatives; elections: the president is elected by popular vote for a 5-year term; elections last held 7 February 2000 (next to be held in 2005); the prime minister is appointed by the president in accordance with the balance of power in the legislature; election results: Stipe MESIC elected president; percentage of votes cast: MONTH (HNS) 56%, Drazen BUDISA (HSLS) 44%; note: government coalition: SDP, HSLS, HSS, LP, HNS, IDS.
Legislature: bicameral Council, consisting of the House of Provinces (Zupanijski Dom) (68 seats: 63 members are elected by direct universal suffrage, 5 are appointed by the president; the term of office is 4 years) and the House of Representatives (Zastupnicki Dom) (151 seats, members are elected by direct universal suffrage); elections: House of Provinces – last held 13 April 1997 (next to be held in 2001); House of Representatives – last held 2-3 January 2000 (next to be held in 2004); election results: House of Provinces, distribution of votes between parties: NA; distribution of seats among parties: HDZ 42, HDZ/ HSS 11, HSS 2, IDS 2, SDP/PGS/HNS 2, SDP/ HNS 2, HSLS/HSS/HNS 1, HSLS 1; note – in some districts, parties participate in elections as part of coalitions, while in other districts – separately from each other; House of Representatives, distribution of votes between parties: no data; party seat distribution: HDZ 46, SDP 44, HSLS 24, HSS 17, HSP/HKDU 5, IDS 4, HNS 2, independents 4, minorities 5.
Judiciary: Supreme Court; Constitutional Court; the judges of both are appointed for eight years by the Legal Council of the Republic, which is elected by the House of Representatives.
Political parties and leaders: Croatian Coastal and Mountain Alliance (PGS) (Luciano SUSANJ); Croatian Christian Democratic Union (HKDU) (Marko VESELICA, president); Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) (Ivo SANA-DER [Ivo SANADER]); Croatian Party of the Right (HSP) (Dobrislav PARAGA [Dobrislav PARAGA]); Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) (Zlatko TOMCIC [Zlatko TOMCIC]); Croatian People’s Party (HNS) (Vesna PUSIC [Vesna PUSIC]); Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) (Drazen BUDISA); Independent Democratic Serbian Party (SDSS) (Vojislav STANIMIROVIC); Democratic Assembly of Istria (IDS) (Ivan JAKOVCIC); Liberal Party (LP) (leader – no data); Croatian Social Democratic Party (SDP) (Ivika RAKAN); note: The Social Democratic Party and the Croatian Social Liberal Party form a coalition, as do the Croatian Peasants’ Party, the Croatian People’s Party, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Assembly of Istria. Together they won the 2000 parliamentary elections, the former ruling Croatian Democratic Union.
Political pressure groups and their leaders: no data available.
Participation in international organizations: BIS, CCC, CE, CEI, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NAM (observer), OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO.
Diplomatic representation in the USA: head of mission: Ambassador Ivan GRDESICH (Ivan GRDE-SIC); office: 2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008; phone: [1] (202) 588-5899; fax: [1] (202) 588-8936; consulates general: Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York.
US Diplomatic Mission: Head of Mission: Ambassador Lawrence G. ROSSIN; embassy: Andrije Hebranga 2, Zagreb; mailing address: embassy address; phone: [385] (1) 455-55-00; fax: [385] (1) 455-85-85.
Flag description: red, white and blue horizontal stripes with the Croatian coat of arms (red and white checkered).
