Croatia
Name
| Official name | Republic of Croatia — Republika Hrvatska |
|---|---|
| Former names | Kingdom of Croatia (925–1918); the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941); the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945); the Socialist Republic of Croatia within Yugoslavia (1945–1991) |
| Demonym | Croatian; Croat |
| Meaning of the name | From the Croats — Hrvati — the Slavic people of the 7th century; the origin of their own name debated, perhaps Iranian |
| Motto | None official |
Quick facts
| Capital | Zagreb — the capital since 1557; about 770,000 in the city, 1.1 million in the area |
|---|---|
| Largest cities | Zagreb; Split, about 160,000; Rijeka; Osijek; Zadar; Pula; Slavonski Brod; Dubrovnik |
| Official language | Croatian, in the Latin alphabet; Italian official in Istria, and Serbian, Hungarian, Czech and others in the minority districts |
| Currency | Euro — EUR, €; since 1 January 2023, replacing the kuna at 7.53450; the 20th member of the eurozone |
| Time zone | Central European Time, UTC+1; summer time UTC+2 |
| Calling code | +385 |
| Internet domain | .hr |
| ISO 3166 codes | HR · HRV · 191 |
| Vehicle registration code | HR |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Independence | Declared 25 June 1991, from Yugoslavia; in effect 8 October 1991; recognized by the EC 15 January 1992 |
| National days | 30 May, Statehood Day — the first parliament of 1990; 5 August, Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, for Operation Storm 1995; 22 June, Anti-Fascist Struggle Day; 18 November, the Day of Remembrance for Vukovar; 8 October, Independence Day |
| Constitution | 22 December 1990 — the "Christmas Constitution"; amended 1997, 2000, 2001, 2010 and 2013 |
| Population | 3,871,833 at the census of 2021; about 3.85 million (Bureau of Statistics, 2025 est.) — down from 4.78 million in 1991 |
| Area | 56,594 km² (21,851 sq mi) — land 55,974 km², water 620 km²; plus 31,000 km² of territorial sea |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A horizontal tricolor of red, white and blue — the pan-Slavic colors of 1848 — with the coat of arms at the center: the red-and-white checkerboard, the šahovnica, under a crown of the five historical arms of Croatia, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia; adopted 21 December 1990.Flag of Croatia |
|---|---|
| Coat of arms | The šahovnica — 25 fields of red and white, the first red — crowned with five shields: the oldest Croatian arms, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia; adopted 21 December 1990, designed by Miroslav Šutej |
| National anthem | "Lijepa naša domovino" ("Our Beautiful Homeland") — words by Antun Mihanović, 1835; music by Josip Runjanin, about 1846; the anthem of the Croatian republic since 1972, of the state since 1990 |
| National colors | Red, white and blue |
| National animal | None designated — the pine marten, kuna, the name of the old currency; the Dalmatian dog, bred on the coast; the lynx of Velebit |
| National flower | The Croatian iris, Iris croatica — the perunika; declared by the Academy of Sciences in 2000; widely cited |
| The necktie | The cravat — from "Croat," the neckcloth of the Croatian cavalry in the France of the 1630s; Cravat Day, 18 October |
| National dish | Peka — meat and potatoes under the bell; Zagorje štrukli; Dalmatian pašticada; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by the law of 21 December 1990; the animal, flower and dishes are widely cited, none designated by the state |
Geography
| Location | Southeast Europe — a crescent from the Pannonian plain on the Danube, over the Dinaric Alps, to the Adriatic coast and its islands; Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro the neighbors |
|---|---|
| Land borders | 2,237 km (1,390 mi) with five countries |
| Border with Bosnia and Herzegovina | 956 km (594 mi) — Bosnia's 20 km of coast at Neum divides Dubrovnik from the rest, bridged by the Pelješac Bridge since 2022 |
| Border with Slovenia | 600 km (373 mi) — the Bay of Piran, arbitrated in 2017 |
| Border with Hungary | 348 km (216 mi) |
| Border with Serbia | 314 km (195 mi) — on the Danube |
| Border with Montenegro | 19 km (12 mi) |
| Coastline | 5,835 km (3,626 mi) — 1,777 km of mainland and 4,058 km of islands; the third-longest in the Mediterranean |
| Islands | 1,244 islands, islets and rocks — 48 inhabited; Cres and Krk the largest, about 405 km² each; Hvar, Brač, Korčula, Pag, Vis, Mljet |
| Highest point | Dinara, 1,831 m (6,007 ft), on the Bosnian border |
| Lowest point | The Adriatic Sea, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 331 m (1,086 ft) |
| Major rivers | The Sava, through Zagreb — 562 km in Croatia; the Drava through Osijek; the Danube, 188 km on the Serbian border, at Vukovar; the Kupa; the Krka and the Cetina to the sea; the Neretva delta |
| Lakes | The Plitvice Lakes — sixteen terraced lakes; Vransko, the largest natural lake, about 30 km²; the Red and Blue Lakes at Imotski |
| Terrain | The plains of Slavonia; the hills of Zagorje; the Dinaric karst of Lika and Gorski Kotar with its caves and poljes; the coast of Istria, the Kvarner and Dalmatia |
| Climate | Continental inland with cold winters and hot summers; Mediterranean on the coast — the bura wind off the Velebit, the jugo from the south |
| Natural hazards | Earthquakes — Zagreb 22 March 2020, Petrinja 29 December 2020, magnitude 6.4; wildfires on the coast; floods on the Sava |
| Natural resources | Oil and gas in the Pannonian basin and the Adriatic; hydropower; timber; bauxite, gypsum, salt; the sea |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 24%; forest about 34% |
| National parks | 8 — Plitvice Lakes (1949), Paklenica, Risnjak, Mljet, Kornati, Brijuni, Krka and Northern Velebit; 12 nature parks |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 10 — the Old City of Dubrovnik, Diocletian's Palace at Split and Plitvice Lakes (1979); the Euphrasian Basilica at Poreč and Trogir (1997); the Cathedral of St. James at Šibenik (2000); the Stari Grad Plain on Hvar (2008); the stećci tombstones (2016, shared); the Venetian works of defense at Zadar and Šibenik (2017, shared); the beech forests (2017, shared) |
| Administrative divisions | 20 counties, županije, and the City of Zagreb; 128 towns and 428 municipalities |
People
| Population | 3,871,833 (census of 2021); about 3.85 million (2025 est.) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 68 per km² (177 per sq mi) |
| Population growth | Negative — about −0.5% a year; some 400,000 emigrated after EU accession in 2013 |
| Median age | About 45 years |
| Life expectancy | About 78 years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.5 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 59% |
| Adult literacy | About 99% |
| Ethnic groups | Croat 91.6%; Serb 3.2%; Bosniak, Roma, Italian, Albanian, Hungarian and others (census of 2021) |
| Immigrants | Foreign workers from Nepal, India, the Philippines, Bosnia and Serbia since 2020 — about 200,000 permits a year, the largest inflow in the country's history |
| Languages | Croatian by 95% — the Štokavian standard, with the Kajkavian and Čakavian dialects; Serbian, Italian in Istria, and the minority languages |
| Religion | Roman Catholic 79%; Orthodox 3.3%; Muslim 1.3%; no religion about 5% (census of 2021) |
| Human Development Index | 0.889 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; 39th of 193 |
| Sport | Football — the World Cup final of 2018 and third places in 1998 and 2022, Luka Modrić's Ballon d'Or; handball, water polo, tennis — Goran Ivanišević and Marin Čilić; skiing — the Kostelić family; basketball — Dražen Petrović |
| Diaspora | Some 3 to 4 million of Croatian descent abroad — in the United States, Germany, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Canada and Bosnia |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary parliamentary republic under the Constitution of 1990 — the president head of state, elected for five years; the prime minister head of government, answerable to the Sabor |
|---|---|
| President | Zoran Milanović (independent, formerly Social Democrat), since 19 February 2020 — prime minister 2011–2016, the only Croatian to hold both offices; re-elected 12 January 2025 with 74.7% against Dragan Primorac's 25.3% on a turnout of 44.2%, after 49% in the first round of 29 December 2024; second term from 19 February 2025 to 2030 |
| Prime Minister | Andrej Plenković (Croatian Democratic Union), since 19 October 2016 — the longest-serving prime minister in Croatia's history and, since 2026, the longest-serving head of government in the European Union; born 8 April 1970; a former diplomat and MEP |
| The government | The sixteenth government, formed 17 May 2024 after the election of 17 April 2024 — the HDZ with the Homeland Movement and the minority members, confirmed 79 to 61; seven deputy prime ministers; Tomislav Ćorić finance minister since 29 January 2026 |
| Parliament | The Sabor — 151 members elected for four years: 140 from ten districts, 3 by the diaspora, 8 by the national minorities; among the oldest parliaments in Europe, first recorded in 1273 |
| The next election | The parliamentary election due in 2028; the presidential in December 2029 |
| Opposition | The Social Democratic Party under Siniša Hajdaš Dončić; Možemo!, the green-left party that governs Zagreb |
| Legal system | Civil law; the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court; the Constitutional Court barred President Milanović from running for prime minister in 2024 |
| Counties | 20 and Zagreb, each with an elected prefect and assembly |
| The war | The Croatian War of Independence, 1991–1995 — the Serb rebellion in the Krajina and the Yugoslav army; Vukovar fell 18 November 1991 after an 87-day siege; Operation Storm, 4–7 August 1995, retook the Krajina; some 20,000 dead; Eastern Slavonia returned 15 January 1998 |
| European Union | Member since 1 July 2013, the 28th; the eurozone and Schengen since 1 January 2023; a founding member of the Three Seas Initiative |
| NATO | Member since 1 April 2009 |
| United Nations | Member since 22 May 1992 |
| Other memberships | The Council of Europe (1996), the WTO (2000), the OSCE, CEFTA until 2013, the OECD as an accession candidate since 2022 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$100 billion (2025, IMF) |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$26,000 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$50,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 3% a year (2024–25) — among the fastest in the eurozone; inflation the highest, near 4% |
| Economy by sector | Services about 70%, industry about 22%, agriculture about 3% |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Tourism | About 20 million arrivals and 100 million overnights a year — about a fifth of GDP, the highest share in the EU; Germans, Slovenes, Austrians, Poles and Italians; Dubrovnik, Split, Hvar, Istria, Plitvice |
| Industry | Shipbuilding at Rijeka, Pula and Split; pharmaceuticals — Pliva; food — Podravka; oil — INA; the Rimac electric hypercars of Sveta Nedelja; the LNG terminal on Krk since 2021 |
| Agriculture | Wheat and maize of Slavonia; the wines of Istria, Dalmatia and the Plešivica; olive oil; the Pag cheese and the Dalmatian prosciutto; mandarins of the Neretva |
| Trade partners | Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary; about 70% of trade with the EU |
| EU funds | About €10 billion from the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the cohesion funds — the Pelješac Bridge among the works |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank); an OECD candidate |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Zagreb Franjo Tuđman International; Split, the busiest in summer; Dubrovnik; Zadar; Pula; Rijeka on Krk |
|---|---|
| Airline | Croatia Airlines, the flag carrier since 1989 |
| Main ports | Rijeka, the largest cargo port; Ploče; Split, the largest passenger port; Zadar; Dubrovnik for the cruise ships; Jadrolinija's ferries to the islands |
| Railways | About 2,600 km (1,600 mi); the Zagreb–Rijeka and Zagreb–Split lines; the tilting trains to Split; upgrading with EU funds |
| Roads | About 27,000 km (16,800 mi); the A1 from Zagreb to Split and Dubrovnik through the Sveti Rok and Mala Kapela tunnels; the A3 along the Sava; about 1,300 km of motorways |
| The Pelješac Bridge | 2.4 km across the Mali Ston channel, opened 26 July 2022 — joining Dubrovnik to the rest of the country without passing through Bosnia |
History in dates
| c. 3000 BC | The Vučedol culture on the Danube |
|---|---|
| 1st century | Roman Illyricum and Dalmatia; Diocletian's palace at Split, about 305 |
| 7th century | The Croats settle between the Drava and the Adriatic |
| 925 | Tomislav crowned the first king of Croatia |
| 1102 | The union with Hungary — the Pacta Conventa |
| 1527 | The Habsburgs elected kings of Croatia at Cetin, 1 January |
| 1573 | The peasants' revolt of Matija Gubec |
| 1868 | The Croatian–Hungarian Settlement — autonomy within Hungary |
| 1918 | The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, 29 October; the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 1 December |
| 1941 | The Independent State of Croatia under the Ustaša, 10 April — the Jasenovac camp |
| 1945 | The Socialist Republic of Croatia within Tito's Yugoslavia |
| 1971 | The Croatian Spring suppressed |
| 1990 | The first multiparty elections, April–May; Franjo Tuđman president; the Constitution, 22 December |
| 1991 | Independence declared, 25 June; the war; Vukovar falls, 18 November |
| 1995 | Operation Storm, 4–7 August; the Dayton Agreement, December |
| 1998 | Eastern Slavonia returned, 15 January |
| 2009 | NATO, 1 April |
| 2013 | The European Union, 1 July |
| 2018 | The World Cup final in Moscow, 15 July |
| 2022 | The Pelješac Bridge opened, 26 July |
| 2023 | The euro and Schengen, 1 January |
| 2025 | Milanović re-elected, 12 January |
Records & firsts
| 1,244 islands | The second-largest archipelago in the Mediterranean after Greece's |
|---|---|
| The necktie | The cravat, from the Croatian cavalry of the 1630s |
| The parachute | Faust Vrančić's Homo Volans of 1617 |
| The mechanical pencil | Slavoljub Penkala, 1906 |
| The torpedo | Invented at Rijeka by Ivan Lupis and Robert Whitehead, 1866 |
| Nikola Tesla | Born at Smiljan in the Lika, 10 July 1856 |
| The Dalmatian | The spotted dog of the coast |
| The smallest town in the world | Hum in Istria, with about thirty people |
| Euro and Schengen on one day | 1 January 2023 — the only country to join both at once |
| The 2018 World Cup final | The smallest nation by population to reach a final since Uruguay in 1950 |
| The longest-serving head of government in the EU | Andrej Plenković, since 2016 |
| The Sea Organ | Zadar's steps that play the waves, 2005 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Croatia?
The Republic of Croatia — Republika Hrvatska — since the Constitution of 22 December 1990 and the declaration of independence of 25 June 1991. The name comes from the Croats, Hrvati, the Slavic people who settled the land in the 7th century; the Kingdom of Croatia dates from the coronation of Tomislav in 925, and the country was a Socialist Republic within Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1991.
What is the capital of Croatia?
Zagreb, on the Sava below Medvednica mountain — the capital of Croatia since 1557 and of the republic since 1991, with about 770,000 people in the city and 1.1 million in its area, a quarter of the country. Split, the city of Diocletian's palace, is the second city and the capital of Dalmatia; Rijeka the port, Osijek the city of Slavonia, Zadar and Dubrovnik the jewels of the coast.
How big is Croatia, and how many people live there?
About 56,594 km² (21,851 sq mi) — a little smaller than West Virginia — in a crescent from the Danube to the Adriatic, with a coast of 5,835 km, most of it on 1,244 islands, of which 48 are inhabited. The census of 2021 counted 3,871,833 people, down 10 percent in a decade; the Bureau of Statistics estimates about 3.85 million for 2025. Croatia has lost population since 1991 to low birth rates and emigration, and immigration from Asia and the Balkans has only recently slowed the decline.
What are the highest and lowest points of Croatia?
Dinara, 1,831 m (6,007 ft), on the Bosnian border above Knin — the peak that names the whole Dinaric Alps — and the Adriatic Sea. The Velebit runs 145 km along the coast, Biokovo rises 1,762 m straight from the sea at Makarska, and the Plitvice Lakes step down through sixteen terraces of travertine.
What currency does Croatia use?
The euro (ISO code EUR, €), since 1 January 2023, when Croatia became the 20th member of the eurozone and joined the Schengen area on the same day — the only country to do both at once. The kuna, the currency of 1994 to 2022, was named for the pine marten whose fur once served as money. Clocks keep Central European Time, UTC+1, with summer time.
Who governs Croatia?
President Zoran Milanović, head of state since 19 February 2020 and re-elected on 12 January 2025 with 74.7 percent of the vote, in a second five-year term — a former prime minister and the only Croatian to have held both offices; and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković of the Croatian Democratic Union, head of government since 19 October 2016, the longest-serving prime minister in Croatia's history and, since 2026, the longest-serving head of government in the European Union, leading his third cabinet since the election of April 2024 in coalition with the Homeland Movement. The two are open adversaries. The next parliamentary election is due in 2028.
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