Croatia is a Central European and Mediterranean country, bordering Slovenia in the west, Hungary in the north, Serbia in the east and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the south; the country also has a long maritime border with Italy in the Adriatic Sea. These borders total 2,028 km altogether.

Croatia has an unusual shape (similar to a croissant) that is unlike any other country in the world, which is as a result of five centuries of expansion by the Ottoman (Turkish) empire towards Central Europe. (Having said this, the Turks never actually conquered Croatia). If you’re interested, we have more on the history of Croatia.

Croatia covers a land area of 56,691 square kilometres and has a population of about 4.29 million people (2011 census). Almost 90% of the population is Croat (the majority of whom are Roman Catholics) and there are also Serbian, Bosnian, Hungarian and Italian minorities.

The main population centres are Zagreb, the capital (with a population of just under 800,000), Osijek in the northeast (population: 107,000), and the ports of Rijeka (population: 128,000) on the northern part of the coastline, and Split (population: 178,000) towards the south. Other well known towns include Dubrovnik, Makarska, Porec, Rovinj, Opatija, Zadar and Sibenik.