Country profile - Societal developments (Croatia)

Economic reforms were initiated during the war: liberalisation of foreign trade, the abolition of price control and the equalisation of the status of foreign and domestic investors. A decline in GDP in the 1992-1993 period was followed by a period of GDP growth (Figure 4). In 1992, Croatia acquired IMF membership, 1994 saw the start of a stabilisation programme and the introduction of a new currency – the Croatian kuna (HRK), and in 1996 marked the beginning of the process of privatisation of state-owned enterprises – their transformation into privately owned companies [6].

Changes in share of the main sectors in economy – agriculture, industry, construction and services -  since the beginning of transition in 1990 point to slow structural changes. Changes at the start of the transition were primarily a consequence of an appreciable fall in industrial output due to wartime events. In sectoral terms, 2008 tourism is the biggest source of income, amounting to nearly 20% of GDP [7].

Half of Croatia̕s population lives on 26.8% of the land area. The biggest population increase occurred in the suburbs of regional centres. Approximately 25% of the population is concentrated in the City of Zagreb and in the County of Zagreb, which together occupy 6.6% of the national territory [10]. The age structure of the population has changed from a progressive one in 1953, through stagnation in 1991, to a markedly regressive in 2001 [3]. The estimated structure of the Croatian population by age and gender in the year 2007 is shown in Figure 5.