The territory of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

is divided by the

Croatian Bureau of Statistics The Croatian Bureau of Statistics ( hr, Državni zavod za statistiku or DZS) is the Croatian national statistics bureau. History The bureau was formed in 1875 in Austria-Hungary as the ''Zemaljski statistički ured'' for the Kingdom of Croati ...

into small settlements, in Croatian ''naselje'' (singular, pl. ''naselja''). They indicate existing or former

human settlement In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of ci ...

(similar to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

census designated places or the UK census output areas - OA) and are not necessarily

incorporated place The United States Census Bureau defines a place as a concentration of population which has a name, is locally recognized, and is not part of any other place. A place typically has a residential nucleus and a closely spaced street pattern, and it fr ...

s. Rather, the administrative units (

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

) are

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

(''grad'', pl. ''gradovi'') and

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

(''općina'', pl. ''općine''), which are composed of one or more settlements. , there are 6,749 settlements in Croatia. Rural individual settlements are usually referred to as '' selo'' (village; pl. ''sela''). Municipalities (or communes) in Croatia comprise one or more, usually, rural settlements. A city usually includes an eponymous large settlement which in turn consists of several urban and suburban settlements. The

Constitution of Croatia The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Ustav Republike Hrvatske) is promulgated by the Croatian Parliament. History While it was part of the socialist Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Croatia had its own Constitution under the ...

allows a ''naselje'' or a part thereof to form some form of

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. This form of local government is typically used to subdivide larger municipalities and cities; municipality may comprise several units named ''mjesni odbor'' (local committee/board), a city usually consists of several units (which may comprise one or more settlements) named ''gradski kotar/gradska četvrt'' (

city district A City district is a designated administrative division that is generally managed by a local government. It is used to divide a city into several administrative units. City districts are used in Russia (raion), Pakistan and Croatia ( hr, gradsk ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

; pl. ''gradski kotari/gradske četvrti''), and/or ''mjesni odbor'' (local committee/board; pl. ''mjesni odbori''). Historically, the methodology of delineating settlements in Croatia changed substantially in the first decade after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when the number of settlements was recorded at 12,044 in the 1948 census, but then reduced to 6,704 in the 1953 census. At the time, the definition of a settlement was an inhabited place with a separate name, an independent settlement was a settlement that had a distinct territory, and a non-independent one was one that was inside another one's territory. Independent ones therefore included cities, towns,

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

s, villages and places where people were settled or colonized.

References

{{Authority control Subdivisions of Croatia

See also

References