In 2015, Croatia was a democratic republic with a multi-party system. The president at the time was Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović who had been in office since 2014. She was elected by popular vote to serve a five-year term. The legislature, the Parliament of Croatia, was composed of 151 members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. See ehealthfacts for Croatia in the year of 2005.
The government of Croatia in 2015 focused on economic growth and development as well as strengthening democracy and human rights. To this end, the government implemented various initiatives such as reducing public debt, improving labour market flexibility, reforming taxation procedures and launching various investment schemes. Additionally, efforts were made to tackle corruption and strengthen good governance practices within the country. There were also several programs aimed at improving healthcare standards and access to education for all citizens across the country.
The political situation in Croatia generally remained stable throughout 2015 with no major incidents reported during this period despite some political tensions between the ruling HDZ party and opposition parties over certain policies relating to security issues. In general, however, democracy continued to be respected throughout this period with elections taking place regularly according to schedule and legal processes being followed for any disputes that arose within the political system.
Yearbook 2015
Croatia. In the presidential election that took place on January 11, after a first round of voting before the New Year, unexpectedly Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović won with just over 50% of the vote. She was a candidate for the Conservative opposition party HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union). That the long-time favorite tipped President Ivo Josipović was voted off was assumed to be because he represented the center-left government which was far less popular than himself. Grabar-Kitarović, who was previously Foreign Minister and Deputy Secretary-General of NATO, became the country’s first female head of state. The President has limited power in Croatia.
According to COUNTRYAAH, Zagreb is the capital of Croatia which is located in Southern Europe. The Constitutional Court overturned two corruption convictions in July and ordered a new trial against former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who was sentenced to multi-year imprisonment. A new trial began in September, but the Constitutional Court ordered him to be released, which happened at the end of November.
- Also see AbbreviationFinder.org for Croatia country abbreviations, including geography, history, economy and politics.
From mid-September, Croatia became a transit country for the huge influx of refugees who were heading north through the Balkan Peninsula. After Hungary closed its border with Serbia, many began to move from Serbia to Croatia instead. Prime Minister Zoran Milanović first said that the refugees were welcome and that their journey through the country would go well. But almost immediately several thousand people came a day and the situation became difficult to handle. Crossings to Serbia were closed and Hungary began to build barbed wire fences against Croatia as well. In a couple of months, over 300,000 refugees passed through Croatia and the situation was often chaotic.
When parliamentary elections were held in November, the two major blocs were basically leveled, but neither side was given enough mandate to form government on their own. The Patriotic Coalition, dominated by HDZ, got slightly more mandate than the government alliance Croatia grows, the largest party of which was the Social Democrats. The election’s big surprise was the election platform MOST, which became the third largest party. MOST had been established in 2012 as a regional party and had largely members who had not been politically active before. Government formation was not complete by the end of the year.
Economy
| Inflation rate | 1.10% |
| Unemployment rate | 12.4% |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | $ 102,100,000,000 |
| GDP growth rate | 2.80% |
| GDP per capita | $ 24,700 |
| GDP by sector | |
| Agriculture | 3.70% |
| Industry | 26.20% |
| Service | 70.10% |
| State budget | |
| Revenue | 17.94 billion |
| Expenditure | 19.24 billion |
| Proportion of the population below the national poverty line | 21.1% |
| Distribution of household income | |
| Top 10% | 27.5 |
| Lower 10% | 3.3 |
| Industrial production growth rate | 3.50% |
| Investment volume | 25.8% of GDP |
| National debt | 77.80% of GDP |
| Foreign exchange reserves | 15,530,000,000 USD |
| Tourism | 2014 |
| Visitors | 11,623,000 |
| Revenue | $ 10,079,000,000 |
Economic conditions
At the beginning of the 1990s, Croatia was, after Slovenia, the richest of the republics of Yugoslavia: it contributed a quarter to the production of the federation’s GDP, and had a solid industrial base (steel, metallurgy, chemistry, petrochemical, mechanics, shipbuilding, agri-food and textiles), well-developed agriculture (corn, wheat, potatoes, beets, viticulture), a good supply of mineral resources (natural gas, oil, coal and bauxite) and a thriving tourism sector. Subsequently, the war produced very serious damage, especially in the manufacturing sector, due to the destruction of numerous production facilities, and in the tourism sector. At the end of the 1990s, almost 9% of the Croatian population lived below the poverty line.
At the beginning of 2000, the new Croatian political course created the conditions for a revival of the economy based, in addition to the resumption of industrial activities (chemicals, machinery, textiles), on widespread livestock farming (pigs, sheep, goats, cattle), on the exploitation of forest resources in mountainous areas and above all on the development of tourism (8,659,000 entries in 2006). Thus Croatia has recovered a relationship of trust with international financial institutions, also becoming part of the WTO, and is today one of the pivotal countries of the European Union’s regional intervention plan known as the Stability Pact for Europe. south-east (affected by important infrastructure projects – transport and telecommunications – for the development of the entire Balkan area). Germany.
The capital, Zagreb, is the first industrial pole and communication hub between Central Eastern Europe and the Adriatic. Other important cities include Split and Rijeka, important ports of call, and Osijek, an industrial center.