Country report non-discrimination : transposition and implementation at national level of Council Directives 2000/43 and 2000/78 : Croatia [2022]

In 1992, Croatia was recognised by the UN as an independent state. From 1991 to 1995 Croatia was in a state of war. After a period of rather authoritarian leadership and isolation from the international community, Croatia changed direction in the late nineties. Croatia has been a Member State of the European Union since 1 July 2013. According to the first results of the 2021 census, Croatia has a population of 3 888 529 which represents a significant decline in comparison to the 2011 census when there were 4 284 889 persons residing in Croatia. The ethnic structure of the country, according to the 2011 census was as follows: Croats made up the majority of the population with a 90 % share. The most numerous minorities are Serbs (4.36 %), Bosniaks (0.73 %), Italians (0.42 %), Hungarians (0.33 %), Albanians (0.41 %), Slovenians (0.25 %), and Roma (officially 0.4 %, but unofficial estimates suggest up to 40 000 people or 0.9 %). The official language is Croatian, but the Constitution gives all national minorities the legal right to education in their native language. The religious structure of the population was as follows: 86.28 % of citizens declared themselves Catholic; 4.44 % Orthodox; 1.47 % Muslim; 2.93 % agnostic/undeclared; and 3.81 % of citizens declared themselves atheist. The percentage of other religions was below 0.2 %. The complete results of the 2021 census are not yet available. The position of the Government and official bodies towards discrimination has moved from pro-nationalistic in the early nineties to denial in the late nineties and a more egalitarian approach since 2000. Ever since then, independently of elections and changes of Government, there has been slow but steady progress, which has been strongly encouraged by human rights organisations as well as by the EU accession process and other international bodies.