Counties of Croatia in the context of "Administrative divisions of Croatia"

Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in 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 Herzegovina and Montenegro to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Italy to the west. Its capital and largest city, Zagreb, forms one of the country's primary subdivisions, with twenty counties. Other major urban centers include Split, Rijeka and Osijek. The country spans 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles), and has a population of nearly 3.9 million.

The Croats arrived in modern-day Croatia, then part of Roman Illyria, in the late 6th century. In the 7th century, they organized the territory into two duchies. Croatia was first internationally recognized as independent on 7 June 879 during the reign of Duke Branimir. Tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. During the succession crisis after the Trpimirović dynasty ended, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of Austria to the Croatian throne. In October 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs, independent from the Habsburg Empire, was proclaimed in Zagreb, and in December 1918, it merged into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, most of Croatia was incorporated into a Nazi-installed puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia. A resistance movement led to the creation of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, which after the war became a founding member and constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991, Croatia declared independence, and the War of Independence was successfully fought over the next four years.

Istria County (/ˈɪstriə/; Croatian: Istarska županija; Italian: Regione istriana, lit. "Istrian Region") is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the majority of the Istrian peninsula.

Administrative centers in the county are Pazin, Pula (Pola) and Poreč(Parenzo). Istria County has the largest Italian-speaking population in Croatia. It borders Slovenia on the north.

Pag (pronounced [pâːɡ]) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea. It is the fifth-largest island of the Croatian coast and the one with the longest coastline.

In the 2011 census, the population of the island was 9,059. There are two towns on the island, Pag and Novalja, as well as many smaller villages and tourist places. Pag is the only Croatian island that is administratively divided between two counties. Its northern part belongs to Lika-Senj County, while the central and southern parts belong to Zadar County.

Primorje – Gorski Kotar County (Croatian: Primorsko-goranska županija, pronounced [prǐːmorsko-ɡǒranskaː ʒupǎnija]) is a county in west Croatia, most of it based in the historical and cultural region called Croatia proper and some of it in Istria, including the Bay of Kvarner, the surrounding Northern Croatian Littoral, and the mountainous region of Gorski Kotar. Its center is Rijeka. The county's population was 296,195 at the 2011 census.

The county includes the island territories of Krk, Cres, Lošinj and Rab. It borders Slovenia.

Slavonia (/sləˈvoʊniə/; Croatian: Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja, Požega-Slavonia, Virovitica-Podravina, and Vukovar-Syrmia, although the territory of the counties includes Baranya, and the definition of the western extent of Slavonia as a region varies. The counties cover 12,556 square kilometres (4,848 square miles) or 22.2% of Croatia, inhabited by 806,192—18.8% of Croatia's population. The largest city in the region is Osijek, followed by Slavonski Brod and Vinkovci.

Slavonia is located in the Pannonian Basin, largely bordered by the Danube, Drava, and Sava rivers. In the west, the region consists of the Sava and Drava valleys and the mountains surrounding the Požega Valley, and plains in the east. Slavonia enjoys a moderate continental climate with relatively low precipitation.

An urbanized area in Croatia can gain the status of grad (which can be translated as town or city as there is no distinction between the two terms in Croatian) if it meets one of the following requirements:

1. is the center of a county (županija), or
2. has more than 10,000 residents, or
3. is defined by an exception (where the necessary historical, economic or geographic reasons exist)

A city (town) represents an urban, historical, natural, economic and social whole. The suburbs comprising an economic and social whole with the city, connected with it by daily migration movements and daily needs of the population of local significance, may also be included into the composition of a city as unit of local self-government.

Though the Republic of Croatia administratively consists of twenty counties, it is traditionally divided into four historical and cultural regions: Croatia proper, Dalmatia, Istria, and Slavonia. These are further divided into other, smaller regions.