Exact population: 4,494,749 (July 2006 est.)

Literacy: Total population: 98.5%; male: 99.4%; female: 97.8%

Ethnicities: Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, other 5.9% (including Bosniak, Hungarian, Slovene, Czech, and Roma) (2001 census)

Area: Total: 56,542 sq km; land: 56,414 sq km; water: 128 sq km

Land boundaries: Total: 2,197 km; border countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina 932 km, Hungary 329 km, Serbia and Montenegro (north) 241 km, Serbia and Montenegro (south) 25 km, Slovenia 670 km

Terrain: Geographically diverse; flat plains along Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near Adriatic coastline and islands

Extremes: Lowest point: Adriatic Sea 0 m; highest point: Dinara 1,830 m

Imports: Italy 17.1%, Germany 15.5%, Russia 7.3%, Slovenia 7.1%, Austria 6.9%, France 4.4% (2004)

Exports: Italy 23%, Bosnia and Herzegovina 13.4%, Germany 11.4%, Austria 9.6%, Slovenia 7.6% (2004)

Industries: Chemicals and plastics, machine tools, fabricated metal, electronics, pig iron and rolled steel products, aluminum, paper, wood products, construction materials, textiles, shipbuilding, petroleum and petroleum refining, food and beverages; tourism

Source: CIA World Factbook