Page "Demographics of Croatia" Paragraph 2

The Croatian language is the official language of Croatia, but minority languages are officially used in some local government units.

Croatian is declared as the native language by 96 % of the population.

A 2009 survey revealed that 78 % of Croatians claim knowledge of at least one foreign language — most often English.

The main religions of Croatia are Roman Catholicism ( 87. 8 %), Orthodox Christianity ( 4. 4 %) and Islam ( 1. 3 %).

Literacy in Croatia stands at 98. 1 %.

The proportion of the population aged 15 and over attaining academic degrees grew rapidly since 2001, doubling and reaching 16. 7 % by 2008.

An estimated 4. 5 % of the GDP is spent for education.

Primary and secondary education are available in Croatian and in languages of recognised minorities.

Croatia has a universal health care system and in 2010, the nation spent 6. 9 % of its GDP on healthcare.

Net monthly income in September 2011 averaged 5, 397 kuna ( 729 euro ).

The most significant sources of employment in 2008 were manufacturing industry, wholesale and retail trade and construction.

In October 2011, unemployment rate was 17. 4 %.

Croatia's median equivalent household income tops average Purchasing Power Standard of the ten countries which joined the EU in 2004, while trailing the EU average.

2011 census recorded a total of 1. 5 million private households, which predominantly owned their own housing.

Average urbanisation rate in Croatia stands at 56 %, with augmentation of urban population and reduction of rural population.