Croatia is a tourist country on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. In this article we will talk more about the population of Croatia, its language and features.
What kind of country is this?
Croatia is located in the southern part of Central Europe. It is surrounded by Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro. The western side is washed by the waters of the Adriatic Sea. The area of Croatia is 56,542 square kilometers. In addition to the continental part, the country owns more than a thousand islands. Krk, Cres, Brac, Hvar, Pag are the largest.
Until independence in 1991, Croatia was part of Yugoslavia. Now it is an independent republic with a parliamentary form of government. Croatia is a member of several organizations, including the UN, the European Union, NATO, and the OSCE. Paper money in Croatia is called kunas, coins are called lindens.
The main and largest city is Zagreb. Among the large cities is also Osijek, Rijeka, Split. Recently, the state has been successfully developing its tourism potential, presenting travelers with both architectural and natural attractions. The country has about 20 national and natural parks, as well as many cities with medieval streets and buildings.
Croatian population
The number of inhabitants in the country is approximately 4.3 million. In terms of population, the country takes 120th place in the world. 51% of the population of Croatia is women. In terms of density, the country is at 94 places, 79 people live on one square kilometer.
Average life expectancy is 75 years. Croatia is the most developed among the countries that were formerly part of Yugoslavia. However, the state’s economy is still recovering from the 1991 war. Therefore, the country has a fairly high unemployment rate, it is 17%. The urban population is almost 60%.
Croatia is an industrial and agricultural country. But in connection with actively developing tourism, the majority of the population (53%) works in the service sector. About 30% of the population is involved in the industrial sector, and only 17% of the population is engaged in agriculture.
Ethnic Composition, Religion, Language
The population of Croatia is homogeneous in ethnic composition, 90% of the inhabitants are Croats. They represent the indigenous population, one of the branches of the southern Slavs that settled the modern territory of the country in the 7th century. The appearance of this people is characterized by high growth and black hair color. Red and white-haired Croats are extremely rare.
Serbs represent the largest national minority. Their number is about 190 thousand. Mostly they live in Lika, Gorski Kotar and Slavonia. Czechs are concentrated mainly in Daruvar, Italians - in Istria. The remaining national minorities are settled throughout the country. Bosnians, Hungarians, Gypsies, Germans, Slovenes, Albanians belong to them.
Croatian based on the Latin alphabet is official. In addition to Croatian, many inhabitants of the country also speak English, German, Italian. The majority of the population professes Catholicism. About 5% of the inhabitants are Orthodox, as many are atheists. About 2% are Protestants and Muslims.
Serbian or Croatian?
Croatian is an official language not only for Croatia. At the state level, it is adopted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian Vojvodina, as well as in the Austrian federal state of Burgenland. It is one of the official languages in the European Union. The number of speakers is more than 6 million people.
Croatian belongs to the group of Slavic languages. The closest to it are Serbian, Montenegrin and Bosnian. There are three main dialects of the Croatian language, which are common in certain areas of the country. Many people do not see the difference between them. They really are very similar, and the inhabitants of the two Balkan countries in 90% of cases easily understand each other. The literary version is based, like the Serbian, on the Shtokav dialect. Nevertheless, with the Serbian language, it has a number of grammatical and lexical differences.
For a long time there was no single language on the territory of the state, at the same time there were three literary languages, which were based on Church Slavonic or on some dialects of Croatian. In the 19th century, a decision was made to combine the language with Serbian. In this case, instead of the Cyrillic alphabet, the Croats accept the Latin alphabet. In the 20th century, active steps are being taken to delimit the Croatian language. Many neologisms are introduced.
The delimitation was significantly facilitated by the arrival of the rural population in the cities. So, the living language of the local population was introduced into the adopted literary version. For many years, the government, led by Tito Broz, tried to artificially combine the two languages, calling the general version Serbo-Croatian. He did not last long, and in the end, Croatia again headed for the independent development of language and culture.
Conclusion
The Republic of Croatia is one of the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. Until 1991, it was part of Yugoslavia along with Serbia, Montenegro and other Balkan countries. Most of the population is made up of indigenous Croats. Only 10% of all residents belong to national minorities, mainly those from neighboring countries. Despite the similarities with neighboring states, Croatia confidently retains its independence, national, linguistic and religious identity.