page_title: Demographics of Croatia
section_title: Population
hierarchical_section_title: Demographics of Croatia / Population
caption_attribution_description: English: Croatian population pyramid 2009 - source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics 2010 Yearbook data
context_page_description: The demographic characteristics of the population of Croatia are known through censuses, normally conducted in ten-year intervals and analysed by various statistical bureaus since the 1850s. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics has performed this task since the 1990s. The latest census in Croatia was performed in April 2011. The permanent population of Croatia at the 2011 census had reached 4.29 million. The population density is 75.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, and the overall life expectancy in Croatia at birth was 78,2 years in 2018. The population rose steadily from 2.1 million in 1857 until 1991, when it peaked at 4.7 million. Since 1991, Croatia's death rate has continuously exceeded its birth rate; the natural growth rate of the population is negative. Croatia is in the fourth stage of the demographic transition. In terms of age structure, the population is dominated by the 15 to 64 year‑old segment. The median age of the population is 43.4, and the gender ratio of the total population is 0.93 males per 1 female. The country is projected to lose 350,000 citizens by 2045.
  Croatia is inhabited mostly by Croats, while minorities include Serbs, and 21 other ethnicities.
context_section_description: With a population of 4,154,213 in 2016 Croatia ranks 126th in the world by population. Its population density is 75.8 inhabitants per square kilometre. The overall life expectancy in Croatia at birth is 78 years. The total fertility rate of 1.50 children per mother is one of the lowest in the world. Since 1991, Croatia's death rate has nearly continuously exceeded its birth rate. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics forecast that the population may even shrink to 3.1 million by 2051, depending on the actual birth rate and the level of net migration. The population of Croatia rose steadily from 2.1 million in 1857 until 1991, when it peaked at 4.7 million, with the exception of censuses taken in 1921 and 1948, i.e. following two world wars. The natural growth rate of the population is negative. Croatia started advancing from the first stage of the demographic transition in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (depending on where in Croatia is being discussed). Croatia is in the fourth or fifth stage of the demographic transition.
  One explanation for the recent population decrease is the Croatian War of Independence. During the war, large sections of the population were displaced and emigration increased. In 1991, in predominantly Serb areas, more than 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were either removed from their homes by the Croatian Serb forces or fled the violence. In 1995, during the final days of the war, more than 120,000 and perhaps as many as 200,000 Serbs fled the country before the arrival of Croatian forces during Operation Storm. Within a decade following the end of the war, only 117,000 Serb refugees returned out of the 300,000 displaced during the entire war. According to 2001 Croatian census there were 201,631 Serbs in Croatia, compared to the census from 1991 when the number was 581,663. Most of Croatia's remaining Serbs never lived in areas occupied in the Croatian War of Independence. Serbs have been only partially re-settled in the regions they previously inhabited, while some of the settlements previously inhabited by Serbs were settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly from Republika Srpska.
  In 2014, there were 39,566 live births in Croatia, comprising 20,374 male and 19,192 female children. Virtually all of those were performed in medical facilities; only 19 births occurred elsewhere. Out of the total number, 32,677 children were born in wedlock or within 300 days after the end of the marriage, and the average age of mothers at the birth of their first child was 28.4 years. General fertility rate, i.e. number of births per 1,000 women aged 15–49 is 42.9, with the age specific rate peaking at 101.0 per million for women aged 25–29. In 2009, 52,414 persons died in Croatia, 48.5% of whom died in medical facilities and 90.0% of whom were receiving medical treatment at the time. Cardiovascular disease and cancer were the primary causes of death in the country, with 26,235 and 13,280 deaths respectively. In the same year, there were 2,986 violent deaths, including 2,121 due to accidents. The latter figure includes 616 deaths in traffic accidents. In 2014, the birth rate was 9.3 per mille, exceeded by the mortality rate of 12.0 per mille. The infant mortality rate was 5.0 per mille in 2014. In terms of age structure, the population of Croatia is dominated by the 15–64 year older segment (68.1%), while the size of the population younger than 15 and older than 64 is relatively small (15.1% and 16.9% respectively). The median age of the population is 41.4. The sex ratio of the population is 1.06 males per 1 female at birth and up to 14 years of age, and 0.99 males per 1 female between the ages of 15 and 64. But at ages over 64 the ratio is 0.64 males per 1 female. The ratio for the total population is 0.93 males per 1 female.
  In contrast to the shrinking native population, since the late 1990s there has been a positive net migration into Croatia, reaching a level of more than 7,000 net immigrants in 2006. In recent years, the Croatian government has been pressured each year to add 40% to 
caption: 2009 Croatian population pyramid
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