Facts about Croatia

27 December 2014
by eub2 -- last modified 11 January 2015

Croatia goes to the polls Sunday to elect a new president at a time when its economy is among the weakest in the European Union. Here are key facts about the country:

(ZAGREB) - Croatia goes to the polls Sunday to elect a new president at a time when its economy is among the weakest in the European Union. Here are key facts about the country:

GEOGRAPHY: Located in southeastern Europe, Croatia borders Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Hercegovina and has a maritime border with Italy.

AREA: 56,542 square kilometres (21,831 square miles) of land. It has a long coastline on the Adriatic with 1,185 islands, mountains in the interior and flat plains in the northeast.

POPULATION: 4.2 million (2011 census).

CAPITAL: Zagreb.

RELIGION: Almost 90 percent of the population are Roman Catholics (2011 census).

HISTORY: Since the 16th Century, Croatia's territory was part of the Habsburg Monarchy, with the Adriatic coast being mostly ruled by Venice until the late 18th Century. At the end of World War I it formed a kingdom with Serbia and Slovenia that broke apart at the start of Nazi occupation in 1941.

During World War II the country's Nazi-allied Ustasha regime proclaimed the so-called Independent State of Croatia (NDH) which collapsed in 1945. Croatia then became one of the six republics forming Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito. Zagreb's proclamation of independence in June 1991 sparked a four-year war with Belgrade-backed rebel Serbs.

For a decade after independence, Croatia was ruled by nationalist Franjo Tudjman, whose autocratic policies isolated the country. Tudjman died in December 1999 and his death marked the start of democratisation that put Croatia on track to European Union membership.

A four-party centre-left coalition led by the Social Democratic Party won elections in 2011, ousting the conservative HDZ that had been tainted by a string of corruption scandals. Croatia joined the EU on July 1, 2013.

ARMED FORCES: Croatia joined NATO in 2009. Its armed forces number some 19,000.

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: Parliamentary democracy.

ECONOMY: One of the main resources is tourism, based on the Adriatic coast, which accounts for between 15 and 20 percent of GDP.

CURRENCY: Huna (HRK).

UNEMPLOYMENT: 19.2 percent (November 2014, statistics bureau).

GDP: 43.6 billion euros ($53.3 billion), per capita 10,213 euros (2013, central bank).

AVERAGE NET MONTHLY SALARY: 5,532 kunas (737 euros, $901) (October 2014, statistics bureau).

GROWTH: - 0.9 percent (negative) growth in 2013 (central bank).

INFLATION: 0.3 percent (2013, statistics bureau).

EXTERNAL DEBT: 45.9 billion euros, or 104 percent of GDP (2013).

WEB SITES: www.vlada.hr (government), www.hnb.hr (central bank)