undesignated

Demographics of Croatia

Croatia is inhabited mostly by Croats, while minority groups include Serbs, Bosniaks, Hungarians, Italians, Slovenes, Germans, Czechs, Roma people and others. Catholicism is the predominant religion, while there's also Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam.

Croatia has a negative natural population growth rate, having completed demographic transition in the 1970s. Life expectancy and literacy rates are reasonably high.

Demographic data from the CIA World Factbook

Population

4.496.000

Age structure

0-14 years: 16.2% (male 373,638/female 354,261)

15-64 years: 67% (male 1,497,958/female 1,515,314)

65 years and over: 16.8% (male 288,480/female 465,098) (2006 est.)

Median age

Total: 40.3 years

Male: 38.3 years

Female: 42.1 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate

-0.035% (2007,CIA)

Birth rate

9.63 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

There were 41,446 births in 2006.

Death rate

11.57 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

There were 50,378 deaths in 2006.

Net migration rate

1.58 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.62 male(s)/female

Total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births

Male: 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 74.9 years

Male: 71.26 years

Female: 78.75 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate

1.4 children born/woman (2006 est.)

TFR by religion: Roman Catholic - 1.63, Orthodox - 1.36 and Muslims - 1.75.

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 200 (2001 est.)

Deaths: less than 10 (2001 est.)

Nationality

Noun: Croat(s), Croatian(s)

Adjective: Croatian

Ethnic groups

Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, Bosniak 0.5%, Italians 0.4%, Hungarian 0.4%, Slovene 0.3%, Czech 0.2%, Roma 0.2%, Albanian 0.1%, Montenegrin 0.1%, others 4.1% (2001 census)

Religions

Roman Catholic 87.8%, Orthodox 4.4%, other Christian 0.4%, Muslim 1.3%, other and unspecified 0.9%, none 5.2% (2001 census)

Languages

Croatian 96.1%, Serbian 1%, other and undesignated 2.9% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German) (2001 census). In some villages of Istria there are also some speakers of Istriot and Istro-Romanian.

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 98.5%

Male: 99.4%

Female: 97.8% (2003 est.)

Ethnic groups according to the 2001 census

		Population	Structure (%)
Total		4,437,460	100
Croats		3,977,171	89.63
National minorities
	Total	331,383	7,47
	Albanians	15,082	0.34
	Austrians	247	0.01
	Bosniaks	20,755	0.47
	Bulgarians	331	0.01
	Czechs	10,510	0.24
	Germans	2,902	0.07
	Hungarians	16,595	0.37
	Italians	19,636	0.44
	Jews	576	0.01
	Macedonians	4.270	0.10
	Montenegrins	4,926	0.11
	Poles	567	0.01
	Roma	9,463	0.21
	Romanians	475	0.01
	Russians	906	0.02
	Rusyns	2,337	0.05
	Serbs	201,631	4.54
	Slovaks	4,712	0.11
	Slovenes	13,173	0.30
	Turks	300	0.01
	Ukrainians	1,977	0.04
	Vlachs	12	0.00
Others¹		21,801	0.49
Refrained from stating
their nationality
	Total	89,130	2.01
	stated regional
	affiliation	9,302	0.21
Unknown		17,975	0.41

¹ This mode includes, among others, Yugoslavs (176) and Muslims by nationality (19,677).

Changes in the late 20th century

The census of 1991 was the last one held before the war in Croatia, marked by ethnic conflict between Serbs and Croats. In the ethnic and religious composition of population of Croatia of that time, those two sets of numbers are quoted as important:

Croats 78.1%, Catholics 76.5%
Serbs 12.2%, Orthodox Christians 11.1%

There was also a significant drop in people who declared Yugoslav ethnicity.

There were two major sets of population movements during this period - the first one during the earlier stage of the war, around 1991, and the second one during the later stage of the war, around 1995. The first movement peaked at around 200,000 on the Croatian side; the second movement peaked at around 550,000 on the Serbian side.

After the end of the war of the 1990s, as a result of all which took place previously, the ethno-religious structure for the two largest nations were:

Croats 89.6%, Catholics 87.8%
Serbs 4.5%, Orthodox Christians 4.4%

Most Croat refugees have since returned to their homes, while two thirds of the Serbs remain in exile; the other third either returned or had remained in Zagreb and other parts of Croatia not directly affected by war.