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

noun:

Croat(s), Croatian(s)

adjective:

Croatian

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:

0.66 male(s)/female

total population:

0.93 male(s)/female (2011 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)

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 Ivo JOSIPOVIC (since 18 February 2010)

head of government:

Prime Minister Zoran MILANOVIC (since 23 December 2011); First Deputy Prime Minister Vesna PUSIC (since 16 November 2012)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and approved by the parliamentary assembly; (For more information visit theWorld Leaders website)

elections:

• president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 10 January 2010 (next to be held in December 2014);
• the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the president and then approved by the assembly

election results:

Ivo JOSIPOVIC elected president; percent of vote in the second round - Ivo JOSIPOVIC 60%, Milan BANDIC 40%

• 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 Civic Party or HGS [Ante OBAD];
• Croatian Democratic Congress of Slavonia and Baranja or HDSSB [Vladimir SISLJAGIC];
• Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ [Tomislav KARAMARKO];
• Croatian Laborists-Labor Party [Dragutin LESAR];
• Croatian Party of Rights or HSP [Daniel SRB];
• Croatian Peasant Party or HSS [Branko HRG];
• Croatian Pensioner Party or HSU [Silvano HRELJA];
• Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats or HNS [Radimir CACIC];
• Croatian Pure Party of Rights-Ante Starcevic or HSP-AS [Ruza TOMASIC];
• Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS [Darinko KOSOR];
• Independent Democratic Serb Party or SDSS [Vojislav STANIMIROVIC];
• Istrian Democratic Assembly or IDS [Ivan JAKOVCIC];
• Kukuriku Coalition (consists of SDP, HNS, IDS, and HSU) [Zoran MILANOVIC];
• Social Democratic Party of Croatia or SDP [Zoran MILANOVIC]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Josko PARO

chancery:

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 Kenneth MERTEN

embassy:

2 Thomas Jefferson Street, 10010 Zagreb

mailing address:

use street address

telephone:

[385] (1) 661-2200

FAX:

[385] (1) 661-2373

• 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, they are (from left to right):
  • Croatia,
  • Dubrovnik,
  • Dalmatia,
  • Istria,
  • and Slavonia

note: the Pan-Slav colors were inspired by the 19th-century flag of Russia

name:

"Lijepa nasa domovino" (Our Beautiful Homeland)

lyrics/music:

Antun MIHANOVIC/Josip RUNJANIN

note: adopted 1972; "Lijepa nasa domovino," whose lyrics were written in 1835, served as an unofficial anthem beginning in 1891

agriculture:

5%

industry:

31.3%

services:

63.6% (2008)

lowest 10%:

3.3%

highest 10%:

27.5% (2008 est.)

• arable crops (wheat, corn, barley, sugar beet, sunflower, rapeseed, alfalfa, clover);
• vegetables (potatoes, cabbage, onion, tomato, pepper);
• fruits (apples, plum, mandarins, olives), grapes for wine;
• livestock (cattle, cows, pigs);
• dairy products

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

general assessment:

the telecommunications network has improved steadily since the mid-1990s; local lines are digital

domestic:

fixed-line teledensity holding steady at about 40 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions exceed the population

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 (2011)

• the national state-owned public broadcaster, Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), operates 2 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;
• roughly 25 privately-owned regional TV stations;
• multi-channel cable and satellite TV subscription services are available;
• state-owned public broadcaster operates 3 national radio networks and a number of regional radio stations;
• 2 privately-owned national radio networks and more than 150 regional, county, city, and community radio stations (2007)

total:

2,722 km

country comparison to the world: 60

standard gauge:

2,722 km 1.435-m gauge (984 km electrified) (2009)

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 (2010)

• 18-27 years of age for voluntary military service;
• 16 years of age with parental consent;
• 6-month service obligation;
• conscription abolished 1 January 2008 (2010)

males age 16-49:

1,016,234

females age 16-49:

1,017,355 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

770,710

females age 16-49:

839,732 (2010 est.)

male:

28,334

female:

27,015 (2010 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)