Capital: Zagreb
Population: 4.4 million
Monetary unit: 1 kuna (HRK) = 100 lipa
Major language: Croatian
Major religion: Christianity
Life expectancy: 71 years (men), 78 years (women)
International dialing code: +385
Internet domain: .hr

State name: Republic of Croatia (Republika Hrvatska)
Government: Parliamentary republic
State borders: West and Northwest Slovenia, North Hungary, Northeast Serbian Vojvodina, East Bosnia and Hercegovina, Southeast Montenegro.
Population: Croat 90%, Serb 4.5%, Italian and Hungarian 0.4%, Albanian and Slovene 0.3%, Bosniak 0.5% (2001).
Regligion: Roman Catholic 87.8%, Orthodox 4.4%, Muslim 1.3%, Protestant 0.3%.
Demonym: Croat(s) Croatian(s).
National Holidays: 22.June (Day of Antifacist Resistance), 25.June (Croatian Statehood Day), 5.August (Croatian Victory Day), 8.October (Croatian Independence Day).
International Organisations: UNO and custom UN Organisations, OSCE, Council of Europe, EBRD, EAPC, PfP, CEI, CEFTA, SECI, WTO, EU candidate country, independent observer.

Property: Croatian property consists of three main geographical regions, the pannonian area in the north, Mediterranean coastline in the south and the highlands in the middle.
Climate: On coastline mediterranean climate prevails (warm, dry and sunny summer, mild and wet winter). The pannonian Croatia has temperate continental climate (warm summer, wet winter), the highlands in mountain climate.
Area and Population: The total population counts 4.464.117 people on 56.542 km² = 79.0 Pers./km². The Capital Zagreb has 700.717 inhabitants. Other most populous Cities of Croatia are Split (176.589), Rijeka (140.469), Osijek (87.544) and Zadar (71.688).
Administration: Croatia has 20 Counties called „Zupanije“ 124 other Cities, 426 municipalities and 6.750 settlements. The Capital Zagreb which is a County for itself, includes 70 Settlements. The elected mayor of Zagreb is also the head of the county.

Croatia State and Government

Head of State: President of the Republic Stjepan MESIC sworn in on 18.February 2005. MESIC won the runoff vote against Jadranka Kosor(HDZ) on the 16. January 2005. It is his second term as a president, the term of office is five years (Two presidential terms possible).
Parliament: The Croatian Assembly “Hrvatski Sabor” is a one-chamber parliament(152 seats) with a legislative period of four years. President of the Parliament is Dr Vladimir. SEKS(HDZ)(2003).

Industry: Industry is a traditionally important economic sector for Croatia, it employed about 25% of total labour force in 2001. Industrial goods are accounting about 95% of Croatian exports. It is reaching significant growth rates (2002 5,4%, 2003 4,1%, 2004 3,9%). The industry sector has the highest shares (19,1%, 2004) in Croatia`s gross domestic product. Main sectors are food processing industry, printing industry, chemical industry, metal industry, textile industry and shipbuilding.
Production of selected commodities(2003): Beer (3,679 Million hl); Cigarettes (15,047 Billion); Clothes (17,719 Million m²); Cotton products (12,321 Million m²); Footwear (4,403 Million pairs); Cement (3,654 Million t); Tank and cargoships (554.000 GRT).

Energy Industry: Croatias electric power potential consists of Oil, gas and hydroelectric power. The Hydroelectric power is estimated 20 billion kWh per year, about 60% is useable for electricity generation. In 2004, 55% of hydroelectric power and 45% of fossil fuels
was used for electricity generation. 13,98 Billion kWh of electricity was produced and 5,34 Billion kWh were imported by the year 2004. The oil consumption was 90.000 Barrel a Day (2003).
Natural gas imports(2001): 1,08 Billion m³ (Consumption 2,99 Billion m³; 2003) A 583 km long Pipeline transports Oil from Omisalj on the island of Krk to the refinery in Sisak at the Sava river. The Refinery has a branch-off point to Hungary, Bosina Hercegovina and Serbia. Gas pipelines have the total length of 1.340 km.

Raw materials: Barite in the area of Gorski Kotor and Kordun, graphite in the Psunj and Papuk mountains. Commodities for assembly of building materials can be found in sufficient amounts. Particularly productive are the gypsum (2002; 145.000t) and clay extraction (2005; Bentonite 11.200t, Ceramic clay 6.000t). Black and Brown coal aswell bauxite refineries were discontinued. Croatias main commodities are Oil and gas, sources are found in the Sava basin. New commodities were found in the Adria.
(2005; Oil extraction: 20.500 Barrel/day), (2003; Gas extraction 1,85 Billion m³), (2002; Salt production 36.900 t).

Tourism: Total mainland of 56.542 km², Sea area 31.067 km², Isles 1.185, Reefs 5.835 km coastline length. On the coast and Isles Croatia has five national parks (Brijuni, Paklenica, Krka, Cornate archipel and Mljet), at the back-country two national parks (Plitvice, Risnjak). The country has a rich cultural history, the town of Dubrovnik, the palace of Dioclecian in Split and other museum-towns like Zadar, Sibenik, Pula, Trogir, Korcula, Prec, Ston and Pag. Croatia`s most succesful tourism season was in the year 2004, over 47,8 Million accommodations were counted. The tourism branch increased 27,6% in only 3 years and achieved a revenue of 6,4 billion USD in 2003.  Croatia plans to invest 9,5 billion EUR in tourism up to the year 2010.

Croatia connects due to its location central and south eastern Europe. Main investments were made in the road construction sector during the last years.

Road and Automotive: Croatia`s total road network length is 28.588 km (2003). About 85% fixed roads, 583 km expressway`s (extension to 3.000 km planned). The expressway Zagreb-Rijeka with a length of 146 km was opened in 2004. Zagreb-Split expressway was completed in 2005. A transport corridor between Ploce on the coast of Dalmatia and Budapest (Hungary) is planned to achieve better traffic importance of South Croatia. A Bridge connecting the Mainland and the peninsula Peljesac in Dalmatia and other expressway`s in Slavonia and Central Croatia are in planning stages.
(2003 1,293 Million automobiles were registered in Croatia, 4.833 omnibusses, 138.290 freight vehicles aswell 85.295 motorbikes and mopeds in the end of 2002)

Railway: The Croatian Railways (Hrvatske Zeljeznice) were founded in 1988, railroads have a total length of 2.726 km (984 km electrified). 35,390 Million passanger drives and 11,723 Million tons of freight were transported in 2003.

Shipping: The shipping plays a major role in Croatia`s traffic system, it has the highest exchange income of all modes of transport in Croatia. The Country has 350 harbours and 10 major harbors (Dubrovnik, Dugi Rat, Omisalj, Ploce, Rijeka, Sibenik, Split, Vukovar and Zadar). A large amount of marinas were build in the last years. Croatias merchant fleet had 259 ships (847.700 GRT) in 2003. In the international shipping traffic 4,053 Million t freight were loaded and 7,364 Million t unloaded, 5,618 Million t were goods-in-transit (2003).

Aviation: Croatia has a total of 10 international aerodromes, 68 airports (23 with fixed roadways) and a special helicopter airfield. Croatia Airlines, a Star Alliance Member founded 1990, is the main airline flying on domestic and 29 international air routes in Europe. 16,445 Million km were flown , 1,582 Million passengers and 6.247 tons of freight were transported in 2003.

OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board) are certifying Croatia as a free and professional Media scene.

Press: The highest circulation of 17 daily newspapers have Vecernji List (135.000 copies), Jutarnji List (115.000 copies), 24 sata (82.000 copies) Vijesnik (55.000 copies), Slobodna Dalmacija (68.000 copies), Novi list (64.000 copies). All daily newspapers are being distributed in the mornings, except Vecernji list.
Main weekly newspapers are Gloria (124.000 copies), Globus (115.000 copies), Nacional (78.000 copies) and Elite (57.000 copies). Other important weekly newspapers are Feral Tribune (Satire) and Privredni Vjesnik (Economy). New established business journals are Dnevnik and Lider.

News Agency: Hrvatska Izvjestajna Novinska Agencija (HINA), Informativna Katolicka Agencija (IKA), STINA and the information and documentation agency HIDRA (Hrvatska Informacijsko Dokumentacijska Referalna Agencija).

Television and Radio: Croatia has 17 TV stations. The Croatian Radiotelevision HRT 1 and HRT 2 (Hrvatska Radiotelevizija) reaches about 90% of national territory. Private television stations are Nova TV and RTL, other local broadcasting stations are Z1 and OTV.  

The Croatian Radio is broadcasting 3 Programs in Croatian English and Spanish language. Famous programs are Radio 101, Obiteljski Radio, Otvoreni Radio, Radio Baranja and the Croatian Catholic Radio (HKR). Regional broadcasting stations are in Dubrovnik, Knin, Osijek, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Zadar and on the mountain of Sljeme.

Telecommunications: HT (Hrvatske Telekomunikacije) and VIPnet have the highest shares in Croatia`s mobile communications sector. 2004 Croatia had 1,89 Million fixed network, 2,55 Million mobile phone and 1,01 Million Internet Users.

Density: 239 TVs per 1.000 inhabitants, 339 Radios per 1.000 inhabitants.

1998, the new Croatian law came into effect. The independence of the judiciary is guaranteed in the Constitution. The Country has 105 local courts (Opcinski sudovi), 21 county courts (Zupanjski sudovi), a Supreme Administrative Court (Upravni sud) and the Supreme Court of Judicature (Vrhovni Sud) as the highest judicial authority.The Country has also 110 arbitral courts and the supreme arbitral court (Visoki prekrsajni sud), 12 commercial courts and the supreme commercial court (Visoki trgovacki sud) and the constitutional court.  

The Constitutional Court consits of 13 Judges elected by the parliament for a term of eight years. The Judges elect the President of the Constitutional Court for a term of four years. The Supreme Court of Judicature consists of 40 Judges which incorporates into the supreme criminal division (15 Judges) and supreme civil court (25 Judges). Other Judges are being appointed by the judiciary council (Drzavno sudbeno vijece), their privilege is guaranteed. The General State Prosecutor is elected by the parliament due to the suggestion of the government for a term of four years.

Constitution: On the 22. December 1990 the Croatian Parliament adopted a new constituion and thereby created the formal requirement for an independent Croatia.

In the referendum on the 19.May 1991 the majority of the population voted for an Croatian independence from the Yugoslavian State. The Croatian Parliament declared its independence and left Yugoslavia on the 25. June 1991. The Constitution is based on the classic separation of powers legislature executive and judiciary. Minorities and citizen of other nations have the right to cultural autonomy, the death penalty is disestablished.
In the presidential elections, the President of the Republic is elected for five years (Two Term Limit on Presidency).

The Croatian Government made an transition from the presidential system to a parliamentary democracy on the 9. November 2000. The government is led by Prime Minister, he selects the Ministers and they get appointed by the parliament. The Parliament (Croatian Assembly) “Hrvatski Sabor” is elected by the people for a period of four years.