Orehovica () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and municipality in

Međimurje County Međimurje County (; ; ) is a triangle-shaped Counties of Croatia, county in the northernmost part of Croatia, roughly corresponding to the historical and geographical region of Međimurje (region), Međimurje. It is the smallest Croatian count ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. There are three villages in the municipality – Orehovica, Podbrest and Vularija. In the 2011 census, the municipality had a population of 2,685, with 1,669 people living in Orehovica, 618 in Podbrest and the remaining 398 in Vularija. 81% of residents identified themselves as

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

during the census. A significant minority of

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

people are also present, making up 18% of the population.

Name

The name ''Orehovica'' is derived from ''oreh'' '

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

' in the

Kajkavian dialect Kajkavian is a South Slavic supradialect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia and Gorski Kotar. It is part of the South Slavic dialect continuum, being transitional to the supradialects of Čakavian, Štokavian ...

of Croatian, spoken in Međimurje County.

Governance

The municipality's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

simply depicts a walnut shell on white background.

Language

In November 2023, the

Government of the Republic of Croatia The Government of Croatia (), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia (), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government (), is the main executive branch of government in Croatia. It is led by the Prime Minister of Croatia, president o ...

decided to declare mandatory

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

bilingualism in Orehovica on the basis of the 2021 census, which showed the Bayash population fraction had risen above the required one third, at 33.68%. As of 2023, none of the legal requirements for the fulfillment of bilingual standards have been carried out, nor are there public legal and administrative employees proficient in the language.

References

External links

Municipality's website
Municipalities of Croatia Populated places in Međimurje County {{Međimurje-geo-stub