Croats

Croats (Croatian: Hrvati) are a south Slavic people mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There is a notable Croat diaspora in western Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The Croats are predominantly Catholic and their language is Croatian.

Locations

Croatia is the nation state of the Croats, while in the adjacent Bosnia and Herzegovina they are one of the constitutive nations.

Related Topics:
Nation state - Constitutive nations

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Autochthonous Croat minorities exist in:

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• Vojvodina in northern Serbia
• Boka Kotorska in western Montenegro
• Burgenland in the eastern part of Austria
• bordering areas of western Hungary and Slovenia

The population numbers are reasonably accurate domestically: a bit under four million in Croatia and around 600,000 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Abroad, the count is approximated due to incomplete statistical records and naturalization but estimates suggest that there are around 1.5 to 2.0 million Croats living abroad. The largest emigrant groups are in western Europe: primarily Germany, where the emigrant community groups estimate around 450,000 people with direct Croatian ancestry. Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom etc follow.

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Overseas, the Americas contain the largest Croatian emigration: the United States (409,458 in the 1990 census, mostly in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California) and Canada (southern Ontario), as well as smaller groups in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia. There is also notable Croat population in Australia (Perth, Melbourne, Sydney) and New Zealand as well as South Africa.

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The foremost organization of the Croatian diaspora is the Croatian Fraternal Union.

Related Topics:
Diaspora - Croatian Fraternal Union

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It should be noted that the domestic population number includes a non-negligible amount of people who don't actually live in Croatia all year: instead, they live work in a nearby European country during large parts of the year, returning home for the holiday seasons (and the census, obviously).

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