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Croatia is a country in the south east corner of Europe.

Croatia has a large coastline. It borders on the Adriatic Sea. There are also about 700 islands that make up the country. Of these islands, about 50 are inhabited. The largest island, Krk, is about 400 sq kms and has around 20,000 people permanently living there.

The land is a mixture of mountains and plains.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Croatia, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 45 10N
Longitude - 15 30E.

The capital of Croatia is Zagreb.

Croatia is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government. People over 16 can vote if they are employed.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Croatia is the Croatian Kuna. Croatia is a member of the European Union, having joined in 2013.

Croatian is the official language.

Check the weather in Zagreb now.

This is the time in Zagreb now

The Croatian flag is 3 equal horizontal stripes of red, white and blue with the Croatian coat of arms in the centre. The coat of arms is a shield of 13 red and 12 white squares with 5 smaller shields making a crown at the top. The 5 shields represent five historic regions of Croatia, namely Croatia, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Croatian National Anthem called Our Beautiful Homeland. It was written in 1835 and adopted in 1972 when Croatia was still part of Yugoslavia. There was a small change in the lyrics after independence in 1990. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

Our beautiful homeland,
Oh dear, heroic land,
Fatherland of ancient glory,
May you always be happy!

Dear, as much as you are glorious,
Only you are dear to us.
Dear, where your land is flat,
Dear, where it is mountainous.

Flow Sava, Drava flow,
Nor you, Danube, lose your power,
Azure sea, tell to the world
That a Croat loves his nation.

As long as sun warms his ploughed land,
As long as storms lash his oak trees,
As long as the grave hides his dead,
As long as his living heart beats!

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The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Croatia is 55,974 sq kms which is the 24th largest in Europe.

Croatia has lakes, rivers and canals which total 620 sq kms.

Croatia has boundaries with 5 countries

• Bosnia 955 kms
• Slovenia 600 kms
• Hungary 348 kms
• Serbia 314 kms
• Montenegro 19 kms

Croatia has a coastline of 5,835 kms which is the 6th longest in Europe. The mainland has a coast of 1,777 kms, the rest is around the islands.

The highest point in Croatia is Dinara at 1,831 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Croatia is 4.31 million people, making it the 26th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 2.23 million are females and 2.08 million are males.

A person from Croatia is called a Croat or a Croatian.

To be a citizen of Croatia, one of your parents must be a citizen of Croatia. It is not sufficient to be born in Croatia. You have to live in Croatia for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Croatia, by population are:-

• Zagreb 698,966 people
• Split 176,314
• Rijeka 141,172
• Osijek 88,140
• Zadar 71,258

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



59.0% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Croatia is 9.5 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Croatia is 12.1 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 9.8 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 9.2 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 44.8 and for males is 40.8. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 27.9.

The elderly dependency ratio is 28.5. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 3.5. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Croatia spends 7.8% of its total income on health care.

There are 2.84 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 5.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

24.4% of the population are estimated as obese.

99.6% of the urban population and 99.7% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

97.8% of the urban population and 95.8% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Croatia releases 19.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 26th highest in Europe.

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Croatia spends 4.6% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in Croatia. Primary education is for eight years until age 14. Upper secondary education, though not compulsory, can last for between 1 and 5 years. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 2 terms and starts in the first week of September and finishes in the middle of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas. A one week break around Easter splits the second term.

98.9% of females and 99.7% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

31.2% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 31.3% are unemployed while with males 31.2% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Croatia is 1.68 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

17.1% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 24 paved airports in Croatia, which is the 21st highest number in Europe.


There are 2,722 kilometres of railways in Croatia, which is the 24th longest in Europe.


There are 26,958 kilometres of roads in Croatia, which means Croatia is in 27th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 3 major national newspapers in Croatia.

There are 4.42 million mobile phone users.

33% of the people have a fixed landline.



3.12 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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