Origins and population density
Scientists and historians are still searching for the exact origin of the Croats. The theory of Slavic or Persian ancestry is widely accepted. More certain is the origin of the word. The Romans feared the native tribes who attacked them with frightening cries: " Huraa! Huraa! U rat! " Translate: "At war!", which later gave Hurati, transcribed Hrvatski for "Croatian ". The Latins, who did not use the h sound in their language, baptized them with the word Kroati, hence the name of the country. A more recent version dates from the 17th century, when the kings of France, Louis XIII and Louis XIV, took into their service armed men from the Slavic cavalry. These soldiers wore a black cloth over their shirt collars. They were called Royal-Cravates, and from this proper name came the word cravate, a deformation of Croatian.
For a long time landlocked, was populated by three main groups: shepherds in the Dinaric Alps, peasants in the countryside, and fishermen on the shores of the Adriatic. This geographical distribution is found in condensed form in Istria, which explains why certain natural environments are still almost empty today (mountains, forests, deserted islands), while the fertile soils of mainland Croatia, the mild climate of the coast and the towns (60%) concentrate the highest population rates.
After the Second World War, progress in industrialization and the development of tourism accelerated the desertification of the countryside. In high-altitude regions, there are no more than 20 or 23 inhabitants per square kilometer, for an overall density of 72.5 inhabitants per square kilometer. One Croat in four lives in one of Croatia's four main cities (Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek). At the last census, the county of Istria, with a population density of 70 inhabitants/km2, was predominantly inhabited by Croats (142,152), Istriots (10,025), i.e. people who speak a Romance dialect comparable to Venetian, Italians (9,784), Serbs (5,778), Bosnians (4,838), Albanians (2,055) and Slovenians (1,000).
The fighting in the last Croatian war (1991-1995) spared Istria, which was neither bombed nor forced into exile, but Istrians did take part in the war effort on military, economic and charitable levels. The peninsula was a safe haven for civilians fleeing the fighting. A large number of refugees and expellees were accommodated in hotels and resorts along the coast. Many of these refugees remained in Istria. This changed the spatial distribution of the population.
The issue of diversity
The preamble to the Croatian Constitution (December 22, 1990) immediately emphasizes the importance of respecting diversity in the population: "The Republic of Croatia is constituted as a national state of the Croatian people, which is also the state of those who, while belonging to other nations and minorities, are its citizens: serbs, Muslims, Slovenes, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Hungarians, Jews and others, who are guaranteed equality with citizens of Croatian nationality and respect for their national rights in accordance with the democratic rules of the UN and other countries of the free world. " These national minorities enjoy the freedom to teach in their own language, cultural autonomy, and are represented in the Zagreb Parliament as well as in local authorities. Istria, more than any other Croatian region, is highly representative of this diversity and, in the age of Schengen cooperation, remains a meeting place for different peoples and cultures.
Italians, a strong national minority
Most of the population is Croatian, then Italian. Beyond the postcard description of the region as a beautiful Croatian Tuscany, a long and sometimes painful history links the peninsula's inhabitants to northern Italy. The Italian community in Croatia, and especially in Istria, was repressed under the Titist regime and the nationalist rule of Franjo Tudjman. Despite this, more than 30,000 Italians now live throughout the country, almost half of them in Istria. They carry political, cultural and culinary weight! In Istria, almost all the elders practice bilingualism, something that Istrian regionalists would like to see re-instituted in schools. Road signs are in two languages, regional cuisines are similar.
After Croatian and Italian, the most widely spoken languages in Istria are Slovenian, Albanian, Serbian and Bosnian. The much smaller Istrian-Romanian community, in constant decline, is assimilated with the Italians of Istria and has its own dialect. By 2021, there will still be around a thousand members of this small minority. In 2011, there were 25,203 Istriots. Recently, citizen initiatives have been launched to safeguard their identity (promotion of language, literature, folklore).
National demographics at half-mast
Croatia's population has been slowly declining for three decades, and Istria is no exception. The population has fallen from 4.773 million (1990) to 3.992 million in 2024. This demographic upheaval is linked to the rise in mortality during the last war, but also to emigration. Controlling demographics remains a priority for the government and for the country's future. Despite the country's entry into the European Union, many young people and graduates prefer to settle abroad. Thousands of Croats have found better working conditions and higher wages. The diaspora is estimated at over 2.5 million, living in the USA, Canada, South America, Australia, New Zealand and, of course, Europe, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Sweden.
