Croatia profile

Geography

Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia

Geographic coordinates: 45 10 N, 15 30 E

Area:

total: 56,542 sq km

land: 56,414 sq km

water: 128 sq km

Border countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina 932 km, Hungary 329 km, Serbia 241 km, Montenegro 25 km, Slovenia 455 km

Climate: mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters; mild winters, dry summers along coast

Terrain: geographically diverse; flat plains along Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near Adriatic coastline and islands

Natural resources: oil, some coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, hydropower

People

Population: 4,489,409 (July 2009 est.)

Ethnic groups: Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, other 5.9% (including Bosniak, Hungarian, Slovene, Czech, and Roma) (2001 census)

Religions: Roman Catholic 87.8%, Orthodox 4.4%, other Christian 0.4%, Muslim 1.3%, other and unspecified 0.9%, none 5.2%

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 98.1%

male: 99.3%

female: 97.1%

Government

Government type: presidential/parliamentary democracy

Capital: Zagreb

Administrative counties: 20 counties and 1 city

Legal system: civil law system

Economy

GDP per capita: $16,100 (2008 est.)

GDP composion by sectors:

agriculture: 7%

industry: 31.6%

services: 61.4% (2008 est.)

Unemployment rate:

14.8% (2008 est.)

inflation: 6.3% (2008 est.)

Central bank discount rate: 9%