Croatia - Geography

Geography - People - Economy - Government - Communications - Transportation - Military - Transnational Issues

Croatia is located Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. The climate is Mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters; mild winters, dry summers along coast. The terrain is geographically diverse; flat plains along Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near Adriatic coastline and islands.

Location

This entry identifies the country's regional location, neighboring countries, and adjacent bodies of water.
Location : Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia

Geographic coordinates

This entry includes rounded latitude and longitude figures for the purpose of finding the approximate geographic center of an entity and is based on the locations provided in the Geographic Names Server (GNS), maintained by the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency on behalf of the US Board on Geographic Names.
Geographic coordinates : 45 10 N, 15 30 E

Map references

This entry includes the name of the Factbook reference map on which a country may be found. Note that boundary representations on these maps are not necessarily authoritative. The entry on Geographic coordinates may be helpful in finding some smaller countries.
Map references : Europe

Area

This entry includes three subfields. Total area is the sum of all land and water areas delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines. Land area is the aggregate of all surfaces delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines, excluding inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers). Water area is the sum of the surfaces of all inland water bodies, such as lakes, reservoirs, or rivers, as delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines.
Area - total : 56,542 sq km
Area - land : 56,414 sq km
Area - water : 128 sq km

Area - comparative

This entry provides an area comparison based on total area equivalents. Most entities are compared with the entire US or one of the 50 states based on area measurements (1990 revised) provided by the US Bureau of the Census. The smaller entities are compared with Washington, DC (178 sq km, 69 sq mi) or The Mall in Washington, DC (0.59 sq km, 0.23 sq mi, 146 acres).
Area - comparative : slightly smaller than West Virginia

Land boundaries

This entry contains the total length of all land boundaries and the individual lengths for each of the contiguous border countries. When available, official lengths published by national statistical agencies are used. Because surveying methods may differ, country border lengths reported by contiguous countries may differ.
Land boundaries - total : 1,982 km
Land boundaries - border countries : Bosnia and Herzegovina 932 km, Hungary 329 km, Serbia 241 km, Montenegro 25 km, Slovenia 455 km

Coastline

This entry gives the total length of the boundary between the land area (including islands) and the sea.
Coastline : 5,835 km (mainland 1,777 km, islands 4,058 km)

Maritime claims

This entry includes the following claims, the definitions of which are excerpted from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which alone contains the full and definitive descriptions
Maritime claims - territorial sea : 12 nm
Maritime claims - continental shelf : 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate

This entry includes a brief description of typical weather regimes throughout the year.
Climate : Mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters; mild winters, dry summers along coast

Terrain

This entry contains a brief description of the topography.
Terrain : geographically diverse; flat plains along Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near Adriatic coastline and islands

Elevation extremes

This entry includes both the highest point and the lowest point.
Elevation extremes - lowest point : Adriatic Sea 0 m
Elevation extremes - highest point : Dinara 1,830 m

Natural resources

This entry lists a country's mineral, petroleum, hydropower, and other resources of commercial importance.
Natural resources : oil, some coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, hydropower

Land use

This entry contains the percentage shares of total land area for three different types of land use
Land use - arable land : 25.82%
Land use - permanent crops : 2.19%
Land use - other : 71.99% (2005)

Irrigated land

This entry gives the number of square kilometers of land area that is artificially supplied with water.
Irrigated land : 110 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources

This entry provides the long-term average water availability for a country in cubic kilometers of precipitation, recharged ground water, and surface inflows from surrounding countries. The values have been adjusted to account for overlap resulting from surface flow recharge of groundwater sources. Total renewable water resources provides the water total available to a country but does not include water resource totals that have been reserved for upstream or downstream countries through international agreements. Note that these values are averages and do not accurately reflect the total available in any given year. Annual available resources can vary greatly due to short-term and long-term climatic and weather variations.
Total renewable water resources : 105.5 cu km (1998)

Natural hazards

This entry lists potential natural disasters.
Natural hazards : destructive earthquakes

Environment - current issues

This entry lists the most pressing and important environmental problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry
Environment - current issues : air pollution (from metallurgical plants) and resulting acid rain is damaging the forests; coastal pollution from industrial and domestic waste; landmine removal and reconstruction of infrastructure consequent to 1992-95 civil strife

Environment

Environment - international agreements - party to : Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
Environment - international agreements - signed, but not ratified : Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants

Geography - note

This entry includes miscellaneous geographic information of significance not included elsewhere.
Geography - note : controls most land routes from Western Europe to Aegean Sea and Turkish Straits; most Adriatic Sea islands lie off the coast of Croatia - some 1,200 islands, islets, ridges, and rocks

More Information about the country

Travel Advisor