National name: Republika Hrvatska

Current government officials

Languages: Croatian 96% (official), other 4% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, German)

Ethnicity/race: Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, Bosniak 0.5%, Hungarian 0.4%, Slovene 0.3%, Czech 0.2%, Roma 0.2%, Albanian 0.1%, Montenegrin 0.1%, others 4.1% (2001)

Religions: Roman Catholic 88%, Orthodox 4%, Muslim 1%, other Christian less than 1%, none 5% (2001)

National Holiday : Independence Day, October 8

Literacy rate: 99% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $53.56 billion; per capita $11,600. Real growth rate: 3.5%. Inflation: 3.2%. Unemployment: 18.7% official rate; labor force surveys indicate unemployment around 14% (Dec. 2004 est.). Arable land: 26%. Agriculture: wheat, corn, sugar beets, sunflower seed, barley, alfalfa, clover, olives, citrus, grapes, soybeans, potatoes; livestock, dairy products. Labor force: 1.71 million; agriculture 2.7%, industry 32.8%, services 64.5% (2004). Industries: chemicals and plastics, machine tools, fabricated metal, electronics, pig iron and rolled steel products, aluminum, paper, wood products, construction materials, textiles, shipbuilding, petroleum and petroleum refining, food and beverages, tourism. Natural resource: oil, some coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, hydropower. Exports: $10.3 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): transport equipment, textiles, chemicals, foodstuffs, fuels. Imports: $18.93 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, transport and electrical equipment; chemicals, fuels and lubricants; foodstuffs. Major trading partners: Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Russia, France (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 1.825 million (2002); mobile cellular: 2.553 million (2003). Radio broadcast stations: AM 16, FM 98, shortwave 5 (1999). Television broadcast stations: 36 (plus 321 repeaters) (September 1995). Internet hosts: 29,644 (2004). Internet users: 1.014 million (2003).

Transportation: Railways: total: 2,726 km (2004). Highways: total: 28,344 km; paved: 23,979 km (including 455 km of expressways); unpaved: 4,365 km (2002). Waterways: 785 km (2004). Ports and harbors: Omisalj, Ploce, Rijeka, Sibenik, Vukovar (on Danube). Airports: 68 (2004 est.).

International disputes: discussions continue with Bosnia and Herzegovina over several small disputed sections of the boundary; 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 un-ratified and in dispute; as a European Union peripheral state, neighboring Slovenia must conform to the strict Schengen border rules to curb illegal migration and commerce through southeastern Europe while encouraging close cross-border ties with Croatia.