The Census of population, households and apartments in the Republic of Croatia in 2021 (Croatian: Popis stanovništva, kućanstva i stanova u Republici Hrvatskoj 2021. godine; shortened: Census 2021, Popis 2021.) was the 4th decennial Croatian census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was August 31, 2021. This was the first Croatian census to offer options to online self-numeration, in addition to the paper response form used for previous censuses. The census was taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected its administration. The census recorded a resident population of 3,871,833 in the twenty counties and the City of Zagreb, a decrease of 9.64 percent, or 413,056 over the preceding decade. The fall rate was the biggest ever recorded.
Questions and data uses The Census collects the following data:
Population surname and first name, gender, personal identification number (PIN), date of birth, marital status; the type of living community in which a person lives; number of live births; place of residence/residence; presence in the census settlement at the time of the Census; reason for absence/presence; time of absence/presence; time of intention of absence/presence; place of absence/place of residence; birthplace; place of residence of the mother at the time of the person's birth; the place from which the person immigrated and the year and reason for immigrating; the foreign country where the person resided for a year or longer, the year of moving to the Republic of Croatia and the reason for staying abroad; citizenship; nationality (national affiliation); mother tongue; religious affiliation; achieved education; attending school/studies; economic activity, position in employment; interest; activities; main sources of livelihood; place of work/school; frequency of returning to the place of residence; means of travel to work/school/study Households relative and family composition of the household; type of household; the basis on which the household uses the apartment; area of used agricultural land and ownership of livestock or poultry Housing and other residential units type and manner of use of the residential unit; apartment ownership; surface area of the apartment; number of rooms in the apartment; kitchen, bathroom and toilet in the apartment; types of installations in the apartment (water supply, sewage, electricity, gas installations); method of heating the apartment; type of energy source; air conditioning; type of building in which the apartment is located; the number of apartments in the building where the apartment is located, the location of the apartment in the building; year of construction of the building in which the apartment is located.
Timeline 3 April 2021: Law on the Census of Population, Households and Apartments in the Republic of Croatia in 2021 entered into force 13–26 September 2021: citizens could be registered independently using the census questionnaire in electronic form that was available on the e-Citizens portal, simultaneously listing the household and the apartment in which they live 27 September – 14 November 2021: enumerators used electronic devices to enumerate all census units that were not self-enumerated and controlled the data collected by self-enumeration 22 September 2022: the final results of the Census 2021 have been published
County rankings
A population decline was recorded in each of 20 counties and the City of Zagreb. The biggest decline in apsolute numbers was in Osijek-Baranja County, which lost 47,006 inhabitants, while the relative decrease was the strongest in Vukovar-Srijem and Sisak-Moslavina County, at 20.3 and 19.0 percent respectively. The 2020 Petrinja earthquake caused a lot of damage in Sisak-Moslavina County. On the other hand, Zagreb had a large influx of citizens from other parts of Croatia, giving it the smallest relative change. +Population and population change in Croatia by countyRankCountyPopulation as of2021 censusPopulation as of2011 censusChangePercentchange1767,131790,017 22,886 2.92423,407454,798 31,391 6.93299,985317,606 17,621 5.54265,419296,195 30,776 10.45258,026305,032 47,006 15.46195,237208,055 12,818 6.27159,766170,017 10,251 6.08159,487175,951 16,464 9.49143,113179,521 36,408 20.310139,603172,439 32,836 19.011130,267158,575 28,308 17.912120,702132,892 12,190 9.213115,564122,568 7,004 5.714112,195128,899 16,704 13.015105,250113,804 8,554 7.516101,879119,764 17,885 14.917101,221115,584 14,363 12.41896,381109,375 12,994 11.91970,36884,836 14,468 17.12064,08478,034 13,950 17.92142,74850,927 8,179 16.13,871,8334,284,889 413,056 9.6
City rankings 2021 Census showed decrease of population in all ten biggest cities with Zagreb staying the largest and followed by Split, most populated city in the south, Rijeka, most populated city in the west and Osijek, most populated city in the east. RankCityCountyPopulationRegion1ZagrebCity of Zagreb2SplitAdriatic Croatia3RijekaAdriatic Croatia4OsijekPannonian Croatia5ZadarAdriatic Croatia6Velika GoricaNorthern Croatia7PulaAdriatic Croatia8Slavonski BrodPannonian Croatia9KarlovacPannonian Croatia10VaraždinNorthern Croatia
Population by ethnicity and religion
Ethnic map of Croatia by municipalities (2021)
Census information with a number of Croats and 22 official recognized minorities of Croatia. EthnicityPopulationShareCroats3,547,61491.63%Serbs123,8923.20%Bosniaks24,1310.62%Roma17,9800.46%Albanians13,8170.36%Italians13,7630.36%Hungarians10,3150.27%Czechs7,8620.20%Slovenians7,7290.20%Slovaks3,6880.10%Macedonians3,5550.09%Montenegrins3,1270.08%Germans3,0340.08%Ukrainians1,9050.05%Russians1,4810.04%Ruthenians1,3430.03%Poles6570.02%Jews4100.01%Turks4040.01%Austrians3650.01%Romanians3370.01%Bulgarians2620.01%Vlachs220.00%Others13,1960.34%Regional affiliation12,7120.33%Declared religion5,8740.15%Not classified3,1080.08%Not declared22,3880.58%Unknown26,8620.69% Census also included religion with a connection to nations of Croatia. Religion/ Ethnicity Total Catholics Orthodox Protestants Other Christians Muslims Jews Oriental religions Other religions, movements<br/ >and life philosophies Agnostics and sceptics Not religious and atheists Not declared Unknown Total 3,871,833 3,057,735 128,395 9,956 186,960 50,981 573 3,392 37,066 64,961 182,188 66,581 83,045 Croats 3,547,614 2,988,051 15,980 5,142 179,159 10,841 301 2,264 33,999 57,216 150,430 51,147 53,084 Albanians 13,817 5,311 11 3 242 7,421 - 4 79 80 235 143 288 Austrians 365 180 7 16 15 4 2 2 9 15 75 19 21 Bosniaks 24,131 255 158 9 37 21,119 - 5 87 367 1,113 407 574 Bulgarians 262 46 114 7 16 3 - - 4 13 40 10 9 Montenegrins 3,127 257 1,078 10 77 101 - 4 30 251 992 139 188 Czechs 7,862 6,487 12 152 224 - - 10 53 159 507 128 130 Hungarians 10,315 6,399 64 2,414 325 2 1 5 66 130 453 219 237 Macedonians 3,555 399 1,889 26 133 200 - 6 37 130 479 121 135 Germans 3,034 1,579 36 417 102 18 2 13 20 80 422 149 196 Poles 657 518 2 - 30 - - 1 10 14 53 14 15 Romani 17,980 10,093 2,406 51 811 3,287 - 3 90 20 245 312 662 Romanians 337 102 114 5 39 4 2 - 4 7 29 7 24 Russians 1,481 173 790 3 49 9 - 4 14 42 229 71 97 Ruthenians 1,343 1,098 40 8 62 - - 3 6 24 56 16 30 Slovaks 3,688 2,397 11 872 107 1 1 2 23 38 132 60 44 Slovenians 7,729 5,151 32 47 319 13 2 9 62 307 1,186 255 346 Serbs 123,892 2,042 101,250 192 2,076 38 7 67 468 2,342 11,406 1,650 2,354 Italians 13,763 10,027 20 26 767 12 4 16 102 336 1,473 475 505 Turks 404 2 2 - 7 305 - 1 5 8 26 26 22 Ukrainians 1,905 952 574 32 85 1 - 3 9 30 107 42 70 Vlachs 22 3 4 - - - - 1 2 5 7 - - Jews 410 9 2 - 5 - 210 1 7 42 97 14 23 Other 13,196 3,088 806 419 508 3,251 29 753 313 481 2,011 770 767 Regional affiliation 12,712 7,967 78 15 558 31 1 45 345 591 2,098 473 510 Declared religion 5,874 475 1,266 6 79 3,436 - 5 55 64 243 100 145 Not classified 3,108 238 50 15 104 19 1 64 698 351 1,115 301 152 Not declared 22,388 1,999 1,131 44 741 615 4 71 355 1,565 6,012 9,368 483 Unknown 26,862 2,437 468 25 283 250 6 30 114 253 917 145 21,934
Population by first language Croatian citizens by first language, including non-official recognized Serbo-Croatian and Croato-Serbian: LanguagePopulationShareCroatian3,687,73595,25%Serbian45,0041,16%Bosnian17,5310,45%Romani15,2690,39%Albanian13,5030,35%Italian12,8900,33%Serbo-Croatian8,1820,21%Slovenian7,6200,20%Hungarian7,2180,19%Czech4,9150,13%Croato-Serbian4,2780,11%German3,3580,09%Macedonian3,3340,09%Slovak2,8590,07%Russian2,0810,05%Ukrainian1,1980,03%Ruthenian1,0110,03%Montenegrin9430,02%Polish7300,02%Romanian6710,02%Turkish3680,01%Bulgarian2630,01%Hebrew820,00%Vlach (Romanian or Istro-Romanian)400,00%Others9,9100,26%Unknown20,8400,54%
Population by sex and age structure
Sex and age structure of the population of Croatia:
Age and sexAllMenWomen
Total3,871,8331,865,1292,006,704
0–4175,53590,24585,290
5–9181,44593,31188,134
10–14195,436100,21695,220
15–19188,72997,22891,501
20–24208,852107,102101,750
25–29214,023109,139104,884
30–34227,551114,778112,773
35–39255,617128,398127,219
40–44267,349134,213133,136
45–49260,146130,035130,111
50–54260,056127,953132,103
55–59279,504134,655144,849
60–65288,351136,338152,013
66–69279,106129,728149,378
70–74228,612100,506128,106
75–79146,85559,06587,79080–84122,71944,67278,04785–8967,24921,20646,04390–9421,0195,60415,415>953,6797372,942
References