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geographical area
56,542 sq km (slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia, USA). The Republic of Croatia is situated in southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. Croatia shares its borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia. Geographically diverse, Croatia possesses flat plains along the Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near the Adriatic coastline and islands and some 1777 km of mainland coastline and myriad offshore islands.
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capital
Zagreb - approx. 973,000 inhabitants.
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population
Approximately 4,494,749 people.
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people
Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, other 5.9% (including Bosnian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Czech and Romany.
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language
Predominantly Croatian at 96.1% (written in the Latin alphabet although the Cyrillic script is still used in parts) with Serbian comprising around 1%, with the remainder including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German.
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system of government
Presidential/Parliamentary democracy.
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currency
Croatian Kuna (Kuna (HRK). 1 Kuna = 100 Lipas. Notes are in denominations of HRK1000, 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5. Coins are in denominations of HRK25, 5, 2 and 1, and 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 Lipa.
Bring GBP or USD for exchange, and an internationally recognized debit/credit card for teller machine withdrawals (available in all bigger towns).
Exchange rate (July 2008)
GBP £1 = 9.06 Kuna / USD $1 = 4.51 Kuna / EUR 1= 7.21 Kuna / AUD $1 = 4.43 Kuna
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religion
Predominantly Christian with Roman Catholic 87.8%, Orthodox 4.4%, other Christian 0.4%. Islam comprises 1.3%, whilst other and unspecified comprise a little over 6%.
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TIME
Croatia is 1 hour ahead of GMT.
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trading hours
Shops generally trade Monday through Friday from around 0800hrs to 2000hrs (variable) and Saturday from around 0800hrs to 1400/1500hrs (variable). Shops in tourist areas also often trade on Sunday. Banks trade Monday through Friday from around 0700hrs –1900hrs (variable) and Saturday from around 0700hrs –1300hrs. Some banks may open on Sundays in larger cities. Post offices are open Monday through Friday from 0700hrs – 1900hrs (variable) and Saturday from 0700hrs – 1300hrs (variable). Restaurant and bar trading hours vary, though many trade until very late. | |
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