Croatia
is located on the Adriatic Sea and is bordered by Slovenia
to the northwest, Hungary to
the north, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and
Herzegovina to the south and a small border with Montenegro (15
miles) at the very southern tip of the country.
Croatia is slightly smaller that West Virginia. On the map, the country almost looks like a backwards “7.” Croatia was once a part of Yugoslavia, but declared its independence in 1991. However, it took four years of fighting before most of the Serbian armies were removed from the country. It was only in 1998 that the last Serb-held area was returned to Croatia. The country has a democratic form of government with the president being elected by popular vote to a five year term with eligibility for a second term. The capital of Croatia is Zagreb which is located in the north central part of the country. Croatia's currency is the kuna.
The July 2007 estimate of the population was 4,493,312. Croatia has a slightly negative population growth rate of -.035 percent. The current life expectancy is 74.9 years with women outliving men by over seven years.
Croatian is the majority language at 96.1 percent with Serbian accounting for only one percent. Croatia has a 98.1 percent literacy rate of people over the age of 15. Roman Catholic is the majority religion at 87.8 percent with Orthodox Catholic accounting for 4.4 percent.
There are almost 1,200 islands in the Adriatic Sea, mostly off the coast of Croatia. Of these islands only about 66 are inhabited. This area is a very popular tourist destination.
Croatia received an invitation to join Nato on April 3, 2008.
Web Sites
Catalog
Search the library's catalog for Croatia.
Databases
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