"text":"<p>The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal independent communist state consisting of six socialist republics under the strong hand of Marshal Josip Broz, aka TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Yugoslav forces, dominated by Serb officers, were mostly cleared from Croatian lands, along with a majority of Croatia's ethnic Serb population. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998. The country joined NATO in April 2009 and the EU in July 2013.</p>"
"text":"more of the population lives in the northern half of the country, with approximately a quarter of the populace residing in and around the capital of Zagreb; many of the islands are sparsely populated"
},
"Natural hazards":{
"text":"destructive earthquakes"
},
"Environment - current issues":{
"text":"air pollution improving but still a concern in urban settings and in emissions arriving from neighboring countries; surface water pollution in the Danube River Basin"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"controls most land routes from Western Europe to Aegean Sea and Turkish Straits; most Adriatic Sea islands lie off the coast of Croatia - some 1,200 islands, islets, ridges, and rocks"
"note":"<p><strong>note:</strong> the French designation of \"Croate\" to Croatian mercenaries in the 17th century eventually became \"Cravate\" and later came to be applied to the soldiers' scarves - the cravat; Croatia celebrates Cravat Day every 18 October</p>"
"text":"more of the population lives in the northern half of the country, with approximately a quarter of the populace residing in and around the capital of Zagreb; many of the islands are sparsely populated"
},
"Urbanization":{
"urban population":{
"text":"57.6% of total population (2020)"
},
"rate of urbanization":{
"text":"-0.08% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)"
"note":"<br><br><strong>etymology:</strong> the name seems to be related to \"digging\"; archeologists suggest that the original settlement was established beyond a water-filled hole or \"graba\" and that the name derives from this; \"za\" in Slavic means \"beyond\"; the overall meaning may be \"beyond the trench (fault, channel, ditch)\""
"text":"25 June 1991 (from Yugoslavia); notable earlier dates: ca. 925 (Kingdom of Croatia established); 1 December 1918 (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) established)"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"Independence Day, 8 October (1991) and Statehood Day, 25 June (1991); note - 25 June 1991 was the day the Croatian parliament voted for independence; following a three-month moratorium to allow the European Community to solve the Yugoslav crisis peacefully, parliament adopted a decision on 8 October 1991 to sever constitutional relations with Yugoslavia"
},
"Constitution":{
"history":{
"text":"several previous; latest adopted 22 December 1990"
},
"amendments":{
"text":"proposed by at least one fifth of the Assembly membership, by the president of the republic, by the Government of Croatia, or through petition by at least 10% of the total electorate; proceedings to amend require majority vote by the Assembly; passage requires two-thirds majority vote by the Assembly; passage by petition requires a majority vote in a referendum and promulgation by the Assembly; amended several times, last in 2014"
}
},
"Legal system":{
"text":"civil law system influenced by legal heritage of Austria-Hungary; note - Croatian law was fully harmonized with the European Community acquis as of the June 2010 completion of EU accession negotiations"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction"
},
"Citizenship":{
"citizenship by birth":{
"text":"no"
},
"citizenship by descent only":{
"text":"at least one parent must be a citizen of Croatia"
},
"dual citizenship recognized":{
"text":"yes"
},
"residency requirement for naturalization":{
"text":"5 years"
}
},
"Suffrage":{
"text":"18 years of age; universal"
},
"Executive branch":{
"chief of state":{
"text":"President Zoran MILANOVIC (since 18 February 2020)"
"text":"Prime Minister Andrej PLENKOVIC (since 19 October 2016); Deputy Prime Ministers Damir KRSTICEVIC (since 19 October 2016), Predrag STROMAR (since 9 June 2017), Marija Pejcinovic BURIC (since 19 June 2017), and Tomislav TOLUSIC (since 25 May 2018) "
"text":"Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and approved by the Assembly"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 22 December 2019 with a runoff on 5 January 2020 (next to be held in 2024); the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the president and approved by the Assembly"
},
"election results":{
"text":"Zoran MILANOVIC elected president in second round; percent of vote - Zoran MILANOVIC (SDP) 52.7%, Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC (HDZ) 47.3%"
}
},
"Legislative branch":{
"description":{
"text":"unicameral Assembly or Hrvatski Sabor (151 seats; 140 members in 10 multi-seat constituencies and 3 members in a single constituency for Croatian diaspora directly elected by proportional representation vote using the D'Hondt method with a 5% threshold; an additional 8 members elected from a nationwide constituency by simple majority by voters belonging to minorities recognized by Croatia; the Serb minority elects 3 Assembly members, the Hungarian and Italian minorities elect 1 each, the Czech and Slovak minorities elect 1 jointly, and all other minorities elect 2; all members serve 4-year terms"
},
"elections":{
"text":"early election held on 5 July 2020 (next to be held by 2024)"
},
"election results":{
"text":"percent of vote by coalition/party - HDZ-led coalition 37.3%, Restart coalition 24.9%, DPMS-led coalition 10.9%, MOST 7.4%, Green-Left coalition 7%, P-F-SSIP 4%, HNS-LD 1.3%, People's Party - Reformists 1%, other 6.2%; number of seats by coalition/party - HDZ-led coalition 66, Restart coalition 41, DPMS-led coalition 16, MOST 8, Green-Left coalition 7, P-F-SSIP 3, HNS-LD 1, People's Party - Reformists - 1, national minorities 8; composition - men 116, women 35, percent of women 23.2%"
"note":"<p><strong>note:</strong> seats by party as of June 2019 - HDZ 55, SDP 29, MOST-NL 10, HNS 4, HSS 4, GLAS 4, IDS 3, SDSS 3, BM365-SRS 3, Human Shield 2, HDS 2, NHR 2, other 8, independent 21</p>"
"text":"Supreme Court (consists of the court president and vice president, 25 civil department justices, and 16 criminal department justices)"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"president of Supreme Court nominated by the president of Croatia and elected by the Sabor for a 4-year term; other Supreme Court justices appointed by the National Judicial Council; all judges serve until age 70"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"Administrative Court; county, municipal, and specialized courts; note - there is an 11-member Constitutional Court with jurisdiction limited to constitutional issues but is outside of the judicial system"
"text":"Bloc for Croatia or BZH [Zlatko HASANBEGOVIC]<br />Bridge of Independent Lists or Most [Bozo PETROV]<br />Civic Liberal Alliance or GLAS [Ankar Mrak TARITAS]<br />Croatian Christian Democratic Party or HDS [Goran DODIG]<br />Croatian Conservative Party or HKS [Marijan PAVLICEK]<br />Croatian Democratic Congress of Slavonia and Baranja or HDSSB [Branimir GLAVAS]<br />Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ [Andrej PLENKOVIC]<br />Croatian Democratic Union-led coalition (includes HSLS, HDS, HDSSB)<br />Croatian Peasant Party or HSS [Kreso BELJAK]<br />Croatian Pensioner Party or HSU [Silvano HRELJA]<br />Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats or HNS-LD [Ivan VRDOLJAK]<br />Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS [Dario HREBAK]<br />Croatian Sovereignists coalition (includes HK, HRAST)<br />FOKUS [Davor NADI]<br />Green-Left coalition (includes MOZEMO!, RF, NL)<br />Homeland Movement or DPMS [Miloslav SKORO]<br />Homeland Movement-led coalition (includes DPMS, Croatian Sovereignists coalition, BZH)<br />Istrian Democratic Assembly or IDS [Boris MILETIC]<br />Movement for Successful Croatia or HRAST [Ladislav ILCIC]<br />New Left or NL [Dragan MARKOVINA]<br />Pametno [Marijana PULJAK]<br />Pametno, FOKUS, SSIP coalition<br />Party with a First and Last Name or SSIP [Ivan KOVACIC]<br />People's Party - Reformists [Radimir CACIC]<br />Restart Coalition (includes HSLS, HDS, HDSSB)<br />Social Democratic Party of Croatia or SDP [Zlatko KOMADINA, acting leader]<br />We Can! or MOZEMO! [collective leadership]<br />Workers' Front or RF [collective leadership]<strong><br /></strong>"
"text":"Ambassador Pjer SIMUNOVIC (since 8 September 2017)"
},
"chancery":{
"text":"2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[1] (202) 588-5899"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[1] (202) 588-8936"
},
"consulate(s) general":{
"text":"Chicago, Los Angeles, New York"
}
},
"Diplomatic representation from the US":{
"chief of mission":{
"text":"Ambassador W. Robert KOHORST (since 12 January 2018)"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[385] (1) 661-2200"
},
"embassy":{
"text":"2 Thomas Jefferson Street, 10010 Zagreb"
},
"mailing address":{
"text":"use embassy street address"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[385] (1) 661-2373"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"text":"three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and blue - the Pan-Slav colors - superimposed by the Croatian coat of arms; the coat of arms consists of one main shield (a checkerboard of 13 red and 12 silver (white) fields) surmounted by five smaller shields that form a crown over the main shield; the five small shields represent five historic regions (from left to right): Croatia, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria, and Slavonia",
"note":"<p><strong>note:</strong> adopted in 1972 while still part of Yugoslavia; \"Lijepa nasa domovino,\" whose lyrics were written in 1835, served as an unofficial anthem beginning in 1891</p>"
"text":"<p>Though still one of the wealthiest of the former Yugoslav republics, Croatia’s economy suffered badly during the 1991-95 war. The country's output during that time collapsed, and Croatia missed the early waves of investment in Central and Eastern Europe that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall. Between 2000 and 2007, however, Croatia's economic fortunes began to improve with moderate but steady GDP growth between 4% and 6%, led by a rebound in tourism and credit-driven consumer spending. Inflation over the same period remained tame and the currency, the kuna, stable.</p><p></p><p>Croatia experienced an abrupt slowdown in the economy in 2008; economic growth was stagnant or negative in each year between 2009 and 2014, but has picked up since the third quarter of 2014, ending 2017 with an average of 2.8% growth. Challenges remain including uneven regional development, a difficult investment climate, an inefficient judiciary, and loss of educated young professionals seeking higher salaries elsewhere in the EU. In 2016, Croatia revised its tax code to stimulate growth from domestic consumption and foreign investment. Income tax reduction began in 2017, and in 2018 various business costs were removed from income tax calculations. At the start of 2018, the government announced its economic reform plan, slated for implementation in 2019.</p><p></p><p>Tourism is one of the main pillars of the Croatian economy, comprising 19.6% of Croatia’s GDP. Croatia is working to become a regional energy hub, and is undertaking plans to open a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal by the end of 2019 or early in 2020 to import LNG for re-distribution in southeast Europe.</p><p></p><p>Croatia joined the EU on July 1, 2013, following a decade-long accession process. Croatia has developed a plan for Eurozone accession, and the government projects Croatia will adopt the Euro by 2024. In 2017, the Croatian government decreased public debt to 78% of GDP, from an all-time high of 84% in 2014, and realized a 0.8% budget surplus - the first surplus since independence in 1991. The government has also sought to accelerate privatization of non-strategic assets with mixed success. Croatia’s economic recovery is still somewhat fragile; Croatia’s largest private company narrowly avoided collapse in 2017, thanks to a capital infusion from an American investor. Restructuring is ongoing, and projected to finish by mid-July 2018.</p>"
"text":"chemicals and plastics, machine tools, fabricated metal, electronics, pig iron and rolled steel products, aluminum, paper, wood products, construction materials, textiles, shipbuilding, petroleum and petroleum refining, food and beverages, tourism"
"text":"the mobile market has one of the highest penetration rates in the Balkans region; covering much of what were once inaccessible areas; local lines are digital; telecom market in Croatia has been shaped by Croatia becoming part of the European Union in 2013, a process which opened up the market and the creation of a regulatory environment leading to competition in mobile and broadband; investment among operators has led to a relatively high broadband penetration in the region; trials for 5G technologies underway (2020)"
"text":"country code - 385; the ADRIA-1 submarine cable provides connectivity to Albania and Greece; digital international service is provided through the main switch in Zagreb; Croatia participates in the Trans-Asia-Europe fiber-optic project, which consists of 2 fiber-optic trunk connections with Slovenia and a fiber-optic trunk line from Rijeka to Split and Dubrovnik (2019)"
"note":"<br><br><strong>note:</strong> the COVID-19 outbreak is negatively impacting telecommunications production and supply chains globally; consumer spending on telecom devices and services has also slowed due to the pandemic's effect on economies worldwide; overall progress towards improvements in all facets of the telecom industry - mobile, fixed-line, broadband, submarine cable and satellite - has moderated"
"text":"the national state-owned public broadcaster, Croatian Radiotelevision, operates 4 terrestrial TV networks, a satellite channel that rebroadcasts programs for Croatians living abroad, and 6 regional TV centers; 2 private broadcasters operate national terrestrial networks; 29 privately owned regional TV stations; multi-channel cable and satellite TV subscription services are available; state-owned public broadcaster operates 4 national radio networks and 23 regional radio stations; 2 privately owned national radio networks and 117 local radio stations (2019)"
"text":"Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia (Oruzane Snage Republike Hrvatske, OSRH) consists of five major commands directly subordinate to a General Staff: Ground Forces (Hrvatska Kopnena Vojska, HKoV), Naval Forces (Hrvatska Ratna Mornarica, HRM, includes Coast Guard), Air Force and Air Defense Command (Hrvatsko Ratno Zrakoplovstvo I Protuzracna Obrana), Joint Education and Training Command, Logistics Command; Military Police Force supports each of the three Croatian military forces (2019)"
"Military and security service personnel strengths":{
"text":"the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia have approximately 15,000 active duty personnel (10,000 Army; 1,500 Navy; 1,500 Air force; 2,000 other) (2019 est.)"
},
"Military equipment inventories and acquisitions":{
"text":"the inventory of the Croatian Armed Forces consists mostly of Soviet-era equipment, although in recent years, it has attempted to acquire more modern weapon systems from Western suppliers; since 2010, the leading suppliers of military equipment to Croatia are Finland, Germany, and the US (2019 est.)"
},
"Military service age and obligation":{
"text":"18-27 years of age for voluntary military service; conscription abolished in 2008 (2017)"
"text":"<p>dispute remains with Bosnia and Herzegovina over several small sections of the boundary related to maritime access that hinders ratification of the 1999 border agreement; since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Croatia and Slovenia have each claimed sovereignty over Piranski Bay and four villages, and Slovenia has objected to Croatia's claim of an exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea; in 2009, however Croatia and Slovenia signed a binding international arbitration agreement to define their disputed land and maritime borders, which led to Slovenia lifting its objections to Croatia joining the EU; Slovenia continues to impose a hard border Schengen regime with Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013 but has not yet fulfilled Schengen requirements</p>"
"note":"<p><strong>note: </strong>713,772 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals (January 2015-October 2020); flows slowed considerably in 2017; Croatia is predominantly a transit country and hosts about 340 asylum seekers as of the end of June 2018</p>"
"text":"primarily a transit country along the Balkan route for maritime shipments of South American cocaine bound for Western Europe and other illicit drugs and chemical precursors to and from Western Europe; no significant domestic production of illicit drugs"
