Ivan Meštrović, Fountain of Life, a sculpture in front of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. Life expectancy in Croatia is 80 years for women and 73 years for men.

About 60% of the population live in urban centres, and one in four live in one of the four largest cities (Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek).

Fallow deer in Brijuni National Park. Apart from its unspoiled nature, this park is also a place steeped in history, since the Declaration establishing the Non-Aligned Movement was signed there in 1956, during the Cold War.

Croatia is administratively divided into 20 counties and the City of Zagreb, which has the status of a county. Each county has particular competence for general education, health, land use, economic development, transport and its infrastructure, and the development of educational and cultural institutions.

Croatian emigrants on board ship heading for Canada, 1923. According to estimates, the Croatian diaspora, from Europe across North and South America to Australia, comprises over two and a half million people.

Geo-Communication position

As an Adriatic, Central European country, and part of the Danube valley, Croatia enjoys a favourable geo-communication position. Thus several pan-European transport corridors and their branches pass through Croatia ...

Counties

The basic units of regional self-government are the counties (županija in Croatian). The present administrative territorial division of the country was introduced in 1997, when the 1992 division was changed. Smaller administrative territorial units within counties ...

Fine arts

Works preserved from the oldest stylistic periods bear witness to the continuity of creativity and to the talents of local people, and place the Croatian art and architecture heritage on an equal footing with the main components of world creative output ...

Language

The Croatian language belongs to the South Slavic group of languages. It is the official language of the Republic of Croatia, and is also spoken by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia (Vojvodina), Montenegro (Bay of Kotor), Austria ...

Education system

The beginnings of schools and education in Croatia date back to the 10th century, and up to the 18th century were linked to the Church and priesthood. Systematic education of the people began during the reign of Maria Theresa, who issued ...

Climate

Thanks to its position in the moderate climate belt along the 45th parallel, Croatia enjoys a predominantly moderate climate, with four clearly marked seasons. Local climate differences are determined primarily by the diversity of the relief ...

Tourism

Although in terms of the number of tourist arrivals, Croatia cannot compare with major tourism powers such as France, Spain, Italy or Greece, with 11.8 million tourist arrivals in 2012 and a trend of increasing numbers for many years Croatia has certainly ...

Croatia in brief

Croatia has been present on the contemporary international political stage since its independence from the Yugoslav Federation, i.e. for a little over two decades, but in terms of history and culture, is one of the oldest European countries ...