Croatia

• Mediterranean and continental;
• continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters;
• mild winters, dry summers along coast

• air pollution (from metallurgical plants) and resulting acid rain is damaging the forests;
• coastal pollution from industrial and domestic waste;
• landmine removal and reconstruction of infrastructure consequent to 1992-95 civil strife

• 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

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.64 male(s)/female

total population:

0.93 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

degree of risk:

intermediate

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea

vectorborne diseases:

tickborne encephalitis

note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)

noun:

Croat(s), Croatian(s)

adjective:

Croatian

conventional long form:

Republic of Croatia

conventional short form:

Croatia

local long form:

Republika Hrvatska

local short form:

Hrvatska

former:

People's Republic of Croatia, Socialist Republic of Croatia

name:

Zagreb

geographic coordinates:

45 48 N, 16 00 E

time difference:

UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

• Independence Day, 8 October (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

chief of state:

President Stjepan (Stipe) MESIC (since 18 February 2000)

head of government:

• Prime Minister Jadranka KOSOR (since 6 July 2009);
• Deputy Prime Ministers Bozidar PANKRETIC (since 6 July 2009), Damir POLANCEC (since 15 February 2005), Djurdja ADLESIC (since 12 January 2008), Slobodan UZELAC (since 12 January 2008)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and approved by the parliamentary assembly

elections:

• president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held 16 January 2005 (next to be held in January 2010);
• the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president and then approved by the assembly

election results:

Stjepan MESIC reelected president; percent of vote in the second round - Stjepan MESIC 66%, Jadranka KOSOR 34%

• Supreme Court;
• Constitutional Court;
• judges for both courts are appointed for eight-year terms by the Judicial Council of the Republic, which is elected by the Assembly

• Croatian Democratic Congress of Slavonia and Baranja or HDSSB [Vladimir SISLJAGIC];
• Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ [Ivo SANADER];
• Croatian Party of the Right or HSP [Anto DJAPIC];
• Croatian Peasant Party or HSS [Josip FRISCIC];
• Croatian Pensioner Party or HSU [Silvano HRELJA];
• Croatian People's Party or HNS [Radimir CACIC];
• Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS [Djurdja ADLESIC];
• Independent Democratic Serb Party or SDSS [Vojislav STANIMIROVIC];
• Istrian Democratic Assembly or IDS [Ivan JAKOVCIC];
• Social Democratic Party of Croatia or SDP [Zoran MILANOVIC]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC

chancery:

Suite F13, 2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 588-5899

FAX:

[1] (202) 588-8936

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Los Angeles, New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador Robert A. BRADTKE

embassy:

2 Thomas Jefferson Street, 10010 Zagreb

mailing address:

use street address

telephone:

[385] (1) 661-2200

FAX:

[385] (1) 661-2373

agriculture:

5%

industry:

31.3%

services:

63.6% (2008)

lowest 10%:

3.6%

highest 10%:

23.1% (2005 est.)

• machinery, transport and electrical equipment;
• chemicals, fuels and lubricants;
• foodstuffs

general assessment:

• the telecommunications network has improved steadily since the mid-1990s;
• the number of fixed telephone lines holding steady at about 40 per 100 persons;
• the number of cellular telephone subscriptions exceeds the population

domestic:

more than 90 percent of local lines are digital

international:

• country code - 385;
• digital international service is provided through the main switch in Zagreb;
• Croatia participates in the Trans-Asia-Europe (TEL) 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;
• the ADRIA-1 submarine cable provides connectivity to Albania and Greece (2008)

total:

2,722 km

country comparison to the world: 62

standard gauge:

2,722 km 1.435-m gauge (980 km electrified) (2008)

• 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, Joint Education and Training Command, Logistics Command;
• Military Police Force supports each of the three Croatian military forces (2009)

• 18-27 years of age for compulsory military service;
• 16 years of age with consent for voluntary service;
• 6-month conscript service obligation;
• full conversion to voluntary military service by 2010 (2006)

males age 16-49:

1,035,712

females age 16-49:

1,037,896 (2008 est.)

males age 16-49:

770,798

females age 16-49:

849,957 (2009 est.)

male:

27,620

female:

26,154 (2009 est.)

• 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;
• the Croatia-Slovenia land and maritime boundary agreement, which would have ceded most of Pirin Bay and maritime access to Slovenia and several villages to Croatia, remains unratified and in dispute;
• Slovenia also protests Croatia's 2003 claim to an exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic;
• as a European Union peripheral state, Slovenia imposed a hard border Schengen regime with non-member Croatia in December 2007

• transit point along the Balkan route for Southwest Asian heroin to Western Europe;
• has been used as a transit point for maritime shipments of South American cocaine bound for Western Europe (2008)