Istrianism or Istrianness is the name given to the regionalist identity developed by the inhabitants of the part of

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...

located in Croatia. Istria is the biggest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea and a multiethnic region divided between Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. Italians and Slovenes live in both the Italian and Slovene parts (which make up 1% and 9% of the territory of Istria, respectively), while in the Croatian part (90% of the region), there are Croats, Italians,

Istro-Romanians The Istro-Romanians ( ruo, rumeri or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to or associated with the Istrian Peninsula. Historically, they inhabited vast parts of it, as well as the western side of the island of Krk until 1875. However, due to sev ...

and Istriot-speakers, as well as some non-native minorities. Most of Croatian Istria is located in the Istria County of the country. Istria is the

region of Croatia Croatia proper ( hr, Hrvatska) is one of the four regions of Croatia, historical regions of the Croatia, Republic of Croatia, together with Dalmatia, Istria, and Slavonia. It is located between Slavonia in the east, the Adriatic Sea in the we ...

where regionalist sentiment is the strongest. In the

2011 Croatian census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, 25,203 people of the Istria County, constituting 12% of its population, declared themselves to be Istrian before any other nationality, making it the most abundant one in the county after Croatian. People also declared an Istrian identity in the

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Primorje-Gorski Kotar County ( hr, Primorsko-goranska županija, ) is a county in western Croatia that includes the Bay of Kvarner, the surrounding Northern Croatian Littoral, and the mountainous region of Gorski kotar. Its center is Rijeka. The ...

, the county where the rest of Croatian Istria is located, therefore making the number of people declaring an Istrian identity in Croatia a total of 25,409. Most of these people in these counties were ethnic Croats, but there were also Istro-Romanians declaring themselves as Istrian. Later, the

2021 Croatian census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

saw a decrease on Istrian self-designation, as 10,025 inhabitants of the Istria County used it. It has been proposed that Istria gain greater autonomy within a more decentralized Croatia. Examples of supporters of this include several members of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), such as its former president

Boris Miletić Boris Miletić (; born 2 September 1975) is a Croatian economist and politician who has been List of prefects of Istria County, prefect of Istria County since 2021 and president of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) from 2014 to 2021. Mileti ...

or the IDS deputy Emil Daus.

References

{{Stateless nationalism in Europe Istria Politics of Croatia Regionalism (politics)

See also

References