The Republic of Croatia is located at the crossroads of routes between Central
Europe and the Mediterranean, along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and
its hinterland. It has a total area of 56,538 square kilometres of land surface and
31,067 square kilometres of the territorial sea. Along the coast there are 1,185
islands, cliffs and reefs, 47 of the islands being inhabited. One part of the
country occupies the Adriatic coast, and the other the fertile Slavonian lowlands.
The seafaring tradition, tourism, and the production of food are hence its
natural orientations. In the northern areas of the country the Central European
way of life prevails and in the southern the Mediterranean one. Croatia has
4,437,460 inhabitants (census 2001), 89.6% of them being Croats, 4.5% Serbs,
while the share of other ethnic groups in the total population is less than one per
cent. Religious affiliation follows similar patterns: 87.8% inhabitants declared
themselves as Roman Catholic, 4.4% Orthodox, 1.3% Muslim, and the share of
other religions is less than one per cent. With 78.5 inhabitants per square kilometre,
Croatia is among the European countries that have a medium population
density (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2003a). Approximately 42% of the
population is rural population