Geography and Demographics
– Situated at the crossroads of Central Europe and the Mediterranean
– Located in the northwestern part of the Balkan peninsula
– Entire coast lies on the Adriatic Sea
– Borders Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Italy
– Capital and largest city is Zagreb
– Population estimate of 3,855,641 in 2022
– Population density of 68.4/km
– HDI ranking of 0.858, indicating a very high level of human development
– Euro (€) is the currency
– Time zone is UTC+1 (CET) and UTC+2 (CEST) during summer (DST)
History
– Croats arrived in modern-day Croatia in the late 6th century
– Croatia was first recognized as independent in 879
– Became a kingdom under King Tomislav by 925
– Entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102
– Declared independence on June 25, 1991, leading to the War of Independence
Government and International Relations
– Republic and parliamentary liberal democracy
– Member of the European Union, Eurozone, Schengen Area, NATO, United Nations, and more
– Contributed troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions
– Currently in the process of joining the OECD
– Fills non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council
Economy and Infrastructure
– Developed country with an advanced high-income economy
– Ranks 40th in the Human Development Index
– Service, industrial, and agriculture sectors dominate the economy
– Tourism is a significant source of revenue with nearly 20 million tourist arrivals in 2019
– Heavy investment in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along Pan-European corridors
Croatian War of Independence and Post-War Croatia
– Conflict fought along a wide front reduced Croatia’s control to about two-thirds of its territory
– Serb paramilitary groups launched a campaign of killing, terror, and expulsion of Croats in rebel territories
– Thousands of Croat civilians were killed and hundreds of thousands were expelled or displaced from their homes
– Serbs living in Croatian towns faced various forms of discrimination
– Croatian Serbs in Eastern and Western Slavonia and parts of the Krajina were forced to flee or were expelled
– Croatia gained international recognition as an independent state
– Reconstruction efforts were undertaken to rebuild the war-torn country
– Croatia joined the United Nations and pursued European integration
– Economic reforms and privatization were implemented
– Croatia faced challenges such as war crimes trials and the return of refugees Source URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia
