Croatia

Background: In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became an independent communist state under the strong hand of Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands. Under UN supervision the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998.
Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia Area: Total: 56,542 sq km, water: 128 sq km, land: 56,414 sq km. Area - comparative: Slightly smaller than West Virginia. Land boundaries: Total: 2,185 km , border countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina 932 km, Hungary 329 km, Yugoslavia 254 km, Slovenia 670 km. Coastline: 5,835 km (mainland 1,777 km, islands 4,058 km).
Climate and Terrain: Climate: Mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters; mild winters, dry summers along coast. Terrain: Geographically diverse; flat plains along Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near Adriatic coastline and islands. Elevation extremes: Lowest point: Adriatic Sea 0 m, highest point: Dinara 1,830 m.
People: Population: 4,390,751. Ethnic groups: Croat 78.1%, Serb 12.2%, Bosniak 0.9%, Hungarian 0.5%, Slovene 0.5%, Czech 0.4%, Albanian 0.3%, Montenegrin 0.3%, Roma 0.2%, others 6.6%. Religions: Roman Catholic 76.5%, Orthodox 11.1%, Muslim 1.2%, Protestant 0.4%, others and unknown 10.8%. Languages: Croatian 96%, other 4% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German.)
Government: Government type: Presidential/parliamentary democracy. Capital: Zagreb Independence: 25 June 1991 (from Yugoslavia).
Economy overview: Before the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Croatia, after Slovenia, was the most prosperous and industrialized area, with a per capita output perhaps one-third above the Yugoslav average. The economy emerged from its mild recession in 2000 with tourism the main factor, but massive structural unemployment remains a key negative element. The government's failure to press the economic reforms needed to spur growth is largely the result of coalition politics and public resistance, particularly from the trade unions, to measures that would cut jobs, wages, or social benefits.
Statistics: Telephones - main lines in use: 1,721,139. Telephones - mobile cellular: 1.3 million. Radio broadcast stations: AM 16, FM 98, shortwave 5. Radios: 1.51 million. Television broadcast stations: 36 (plus 321 repeaters). Televisions: 1.22 million. Internet users: 200,000. Railways: Total: 2,726 km. Highways: Total: 28,009 km, paved: 23,695 km, unpaved: 4,314 km. Airports: 67, with paved runways: 22, with unpaved runways: 45. Heliport 1.