 Croatia has established a high level of human development and gender equality in terms of the Human Development Index. It promotes disability rights. Recognition of same-sex unions in Croatia has gradually improved over the past decade, culminating in registered civil unions in July 2014, granting same-sex couples equal inheritance rights, tax deductions and limited adoption rights. However, in December 2013 Croatians voted in favour of a constitutional referendum, backed by conservative groups, defining marriage as a "life union of woman and man".
