Ours
itinerary starts in the Ancona's harbour where we took the Ferry to Split (Spalato). After
the landing we took the coastal road to Dubrovnik (Ragusa).
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 a mild recession in 2000 with tourism, banking,
and public investments leading the way. Unemployment remains high, at over 13 percent,
with structural factors slowing its decline. While macroeconomic stabilization has largely
been achieved, structural reforms lag because of deep resistance on the part of the public
and lack of strong support from politicians. Growth, while impressively over 4% for the
last several years, has been achieved through high fiscal and current account deficits.
The government is gradually reducing a heavy back log of civil cases, many involving land
tenure. The EU accession process should accelerate fiscal and structural reform.
Population: 4,496,869 (July 2004 est.)
Ethnic groups: Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, Italian 0,8%, Bosniak 0.5%, Hungarian 0.4%, Slovene
0.3%, Czech 0.2%, Roma 0.2%, Albanian 0.1%, Montenegrin 0.1%, others 3.1% (2001)
Religions: Roman Catholic 87.8%, Orthodox 4.4%, Muslim 1.3%, Protestant 0.3%, others and
unknown 6.2% (2001)
Languages: Croatian 96%, other 4% (including Italian (1%), Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and
German)
Climate: Mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers
and cold winters; mild winters, dry summers along coast.
