Croats

For the 17th-century light cavalry, see Croats (military unit).
"Croatians" and "Croatian people" redirect here. For the more generic usage, see Croatians (demonym).
"Croat" redirects here. For the medieval Catalan currency, see Croat (coin). For the surname, see Croat (surname).

Croats
Hrvati
Dolazak Hrvata (Arrival of Croats), painting by Oton Iveković, representing the migration of Croats to the Adriatic Sea
Total population
c. 7–8 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Croatia
3,550,000 (2021)[2]
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
544,780 (2013)[3]
 United States414,714 (2012)[4]–1,200,000 (est.)[5]
 Germany500,000 (2021)[6][7]
 Chile400,000[8]
 Argentina250,000[9]
 Austria220,000[10]
 Australia164,362 (2021)[11]– 250,000 (est.)[12]
 Canada130,280 (2021)[13]– 250,000 (est.)[14]
 New Zealand100,000[15]
  Switzerland80,000 (2021)[16]
 Brazil70,000[9]
 Italy60,000[17]
 Slovenia50,000 (est.)[18]
 Paraguay41,502 (2023)[19]
 France40,000 (est.)[20]
 Serbia39,107 (2022)[21]
 Sweden35,000 (est.)[22]
Other countries
(fewer than 30,000)
 Hungary22,995 (2016)[23]
 Ireland20,000 - 50,000 (2019)[24]
 Netherlands10,000[25]
 Bolivia10,000[26]
 South Africa8,000[27]
 United Kingdom6,992[28]
 Romania4,842 (2021)[13]
 Montenegro6,021 (2011)[29]
 Peru6,000[9]
 Colombia5,800 (est.)[9][30]
 Denmark5,400[31]
 Norway5,272[32]
 Ecuador4,000[33]
 Slovakia2,001[34][35]–2,600[36]
 Czech Republic2,490[37]
 Portugal499[38]
 Russia304[39]
Europec. 5,200,000
North Americac. 600,000–2,500,000[a]
South Americac. 500,000–800,000
Otherc. 300,000–350,000
Languages
Croatian
Religion
Predominantly Christian Catholic[40]
Related ethnic groups
Other South Slavs[41]
a References:[42][43][44][45][46][47][48]
Part of a series on
Croats
Recognized
Diaspora
Europe

North America

South America

Oceania

Subgroups
Culture
History
Language
Related nations

The Croats (/ˈkroʊæts/;[49] Croatian: Hrvati, pronounced [xr̩ʋǎːti]) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They also form a sizeable minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

Due to political, social and economic reasons, many Croats migrated to North and South America as well as New Zealand and later Australia, establishing a diaspora in the aftermath of World War II, with grassroots assistance from earlier communities and the Roman Catholic Church.[50][51] In Croatia (the nation state), 3.9 million people identify themselves as Croats, and constitute about 90.4% of the population. Another 553,000 live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they are one of the three constituent ethnic groups, predominantly living in Western Herzegovina, Central Bosnia and Bosnian Posavina. The minority in Serbia number about 70,000, mostly in Vojvodina.[52][53] The ethnic Tarara people, indigenous to Te Tai Tokerau in New Zealand, are of mixed Croatian and Māori (predominantly Ngāpuhi) descent. Tarara Day is celebrated every 15 March to commemorate their "highly regarded place in present-day Māoridom".[54][55]

Croats are mostly Catholics. The Croatian language is official in Croatia, the European Union[56] and Bosnia and Herzegovina.[57] Croatian is a recognized minority language within Croatian autochthonous communities and minorities in Montenegro, Austria (Burgenland), Italy (Molise), Romania (Carașova, Lupac) and Serbia (Vojvodina).

  1. ^ Bellamy, Alex J. (2003). The Formation of Croatian National Identity: A Centuries-Old Dream. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-71906-502-6. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  2. ^ "2. Population by ethnicity, by towns/municipalities". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. December 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  3. ^ Sarajevo, juni 2016. Cenzus of Population, Households and Dwellings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013 Final Results (PDF). BHAS. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  4. ^ Results   American Fact Finder (US Census Bureau)
  5. ^ Croatian diaspora in the USA Archived 7 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine. "It has been estimated that around 1,200,000 Croats and their descendants live in the USA."
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference destatis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "State Office for Croats Abroad". Hrvatiizvanrh.hr. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  8. ^ Diaspora Croata Archived 9 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine El Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de la República de Chile evalúa que en ese país actualmente viven 380.000 personas consideradas de ser de descendencia croata, lo que es un 2,4% de la población total de Chile.
  9. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference croata was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Fer Projekt, Put Murvice 14, Zadar, Hrvatska, +385 98 212 96 00, www.fer-projekt.com. "Hrvatska manjina u Republici Austriji". Hrvatiizvanrh.hr. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "People in Australia Who Were Born in Croatia". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Commonwealth of Australian. 2021. sec. "Cultural diversity". Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  12. ^ https://hrvatiizvanrh.gov.hr/hrvati-izvan-rh/hrvatsko-iseljenistvo/hrvatsko-iseljenisto-u-australiji/751 [bare URL]
  13. ^ a b "Population by national and/or ethnic group, sex and urban/rural residence". Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  14. ^ https://hrvatiizvanrh.gov.hr/hrvati-izvan-rh/hrvatsko-iseljenistvo/hrvatsko-iseljenistvo-u-kanadi/762 [bare URL]
  15. ^ "Carter: NZ Celebrates 150 Years of Kiwi-Croatian Culture". voxy.co.nz. Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference admin.ch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ "Croatian diaspora in Italy". Središnji državni ured za Hrvate izvan Republike Hrvatske. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference stat.si was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ "Situación actual y proyecciones del desarrollo futuro de la población de origen croata en Paraguay" (PDF). imin.hr. January 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  20. ^ "Présentation de la Croatie" (in French). Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  21. ^ "ПОПИС 2022 - еxcел табеле | О ПОПИСУ СТАНОВНИШТВА". Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Hrvatsko iseljeništvo u Švedskoj". Hrvatiizvanrh.hr (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  23. ^ Vukovich, Gabriella (2018). Mikrocenzus 2016 – 12. Nemzetiségi adatok [2016 microcensus – 12. Ethnic data] (PDF). Hungarian Central Statistical Office (Report) (in Hungarian). Budapest. ISBN 978-963-235-542-9. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  24. ^ Gnjidić Krnić, Lidija (25 February 2019). "Ugledni ekspert otkrio koliko je točno Hrvata otišlo u Irsku: 'Znam i zašto taj broj pada'". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  25. ^ "State Office for Croats Abroad". Hrvatiizvanrh.hr. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  26. ^ "Veza s Hrvatima izvan Hrvatske". Archived from the original on 4 March 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  27. ^ "Dom i svijet – Broj 227 – Croatia klub u Juznoj Africi". Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference oecd.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference monstat.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  30. ^ "República de Croacia". Cancillería. 26 September 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  31. ^ Cite error: The named reference joshuaproject.net was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ "Population by immigrant category and country background". Statistics Norway. 1 January 2015. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  33. ^ "State Office for Croats Abroad". Hrvatiizvanrh.hr. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  34. ^ "SODB2021 – Obyvatelia – Základné výsledky". scitanie.sk. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  35. ^ "SODB2021 – Obyvatelia – Základné výsledky". scitanie.sk. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  36. ^ Cite error: The named reference Glas Koncila was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  37. ^ "Croats of Czech Republic: Ethnic People Profile". czso.cz. Czech Statistical Office. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  38. ^ "Sefstat" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 March 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  39. ^ Всероссийская перепись населения 2010. Национальный состав населения Archived 6 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  40. ^ Marty, Martin E. (1997). Religion, Ethnicity, and Self-Identity: Nations in Turmoil. University Press of New England. ISBN 0-87451-815-6. [...] the three ethnoreligious groups that have played the roles of the protagonists in the bloody tragedy that has unfolded in the former Yugoslavia: the Christian Orthodox Serbs, the Catholic Croats, and the Muslim Slavs of Bosnia.
  41. ^ Cite error: The named reference ethnologue.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  42. ^ Farkas, Evelyn (2003). Fractured States and U.S. Foreign Policy. Iraq, Ethiopia, and Bosnia in the 1990s. Palgrave Macmillan US. p. 99.
  43. ^ Paquin, Jonathan (2010). A Stability-Seeking Power: US Foreign Policy and Secessionist Conflicts. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 68.
  44. ^ Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada. American Association for State and Local History. 2002. p. 205.
  45. ^ Zanger, Mark (2001). The American Ethnic Cookbook for Students. Greenwood. p. 80.
  46. ^ Levinson, Ember; David, Melvin (1997). American immigrant cultures: builders of a nation. Macmillan. p. 191.
  47. ^ Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations for 1994: Testimony of members of Congress and other interested individuals and organizations. United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs. 1993. p. 690.
  48. ^ National Genealogical Inquirer. Janlen Enterprises. 1979. p. 47.
  49. ^ "Croat". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020.
  50. ^ Cite error: The named reference diasporas was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  51. ^ Cite error: The named reference HWC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  52. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  53. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  54. ^ "Croatian :: Ngati Tarara 'The Olive and Kauri'". croatianclub.org. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  55. ^ Kapiteli, Marija; Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Tarara Day". teara.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  56. ^ "European Commission – Frequently asked questions on languages in Europe". europa.eu. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  57. ^ "About BiH". Bhas.ba. Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2019.