Zagreb, Croatia

Zagreb is the largest and capital city of Croatia. Zagreb is the cultural, scientific, economic, political and administrative center of the Republic of Croatia with the houses of Parliament, President and Government of the country. The city's population in 2001 was 779,145 [1]. (1 088 841 in the metro area).[2]. It is situated between the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountains and the northern bank of the Sava river at an elevation of 120m above sea level, located at 45°48'N 15°58'E.

Its favourable geographic position in the southwestern part of the Pannonian Basin, which extends to the Alpine, Dinaric, Adriatic and Pannonic regions, provides an excellent connection for traffic between Central Europe and the Adriatic Sea.

The transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and industrial tradition underlie its leading economic position in Croatia. Zagreb is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies and almost all government ministries.

Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia and the only one whose metropolitan population exceeds one million people. There are 1,088,841 people in the Zagreb metropolitan area, including the smaller cities of Samobor, Velika Gorica and Zaprešic. The official population is 779,145 from 2001. According to the local police department, which bases its information on the number of the applicants who wish to register to vote in Zagreb, the city had a population of 973,667.

The majority of its citizens are Croats with 91.94% (2001 census). The same census has a population of 40,066 residents belonging to ethnic minorities. Ethnic minorities and their composition is the following: 18,811 Serbs (2.41%), 6,204 Bosniaks (0.80%), 3,389 Albanians (0.43%), 3,225 Slovenians (0.41%), 2,000 Jews (0.30%) 1,946 Roma (0.25%), 1,131 Montenegrins (0.17%), 1,315 Macedonians (0.17%), and the rest belong to other minor ethnic communities.