Distillers Country guides / Croatia
Croatia
A one-page guide to Croatia for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Zagreb
- Official languages
- Croatian
- Currency
- Euro (EUR), adopted 2023
- Time zone
- UTC+1 (UTC+2 summer)
- Area
- 88,070 km²
People
- Population
- 3.9 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 0.3% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 57.8%
- Aged under 15
- 13.7%
- Aged 65 and over
- 23.6%
- Life expectancy
- 78.9 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$105.1 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$27,104 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 3.40307537181749% (2025)
- Inflation
- 3.69153459605728% (2025)
Climate
Moderately warm and rainy continental climate inland; Mediterranean on the Adriatic coast and hinterland.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 (selling or serving to under-18s prohibited; no legal minimum age to consume)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 10.6 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 52%, wine 32%, spirits 16% (2022)
- Traditional drinks
- Rakija (travarica herbal, sljivovica plum, loza grape, medica, orahovica), Maraschino (Zadar), Wine
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia: Croatia (basics, climate, ports); Wikipedia: Legal drinking age; World Bank Open Data (population, GDP, growth, inflation, area); WHO Global Health Observatory: total alcohol per capita; UN Comtrade (HS 2208 trade); Wikipedia: Rakia; Wikipedia: Zagrebacka pivovara; EU excise on alcohol. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.