Geography

The towns in the county of Zadar are: Zadar, Benkovac, Biograd, Nin, Obrovac and Pag.

It includes the islands of Dugi otok, Ugljan, Pašman and most of Pag, as well as a number of other, smaller islands. It also features the Paklenica national park.

The county's area is 7,854 km², 3,642 km² is land, which accounts for 6,4 % of the territory of Croatia. The sea area of the County is 3,632 km² and the insular area is 580 km².

The county's population is 200,936 (accounting for 4,5 % of the total Croatia’s population), of which 129,000 people live in the coastal area, 21,000 on islands and 50,000 in the County’s inland.

Traffic

The County of Zadar plays a distinctive role in the road and railway traffic linking of Croatia’s northern and southern parts.

The so-called Adriatic Tourist Road, the Zagreb-Split highway route and the Zagreb-Knin-Split railway route with branch-lines to Zadar and Šibenik pass through the County.

The maritime traffic is carried by the coastal route of the Adriatic Sea, by the Zadar-Ancona international car ferry route which is the shortest link between Central Europe and Italy, via Zagreb and Zadar to Rome and southward. Another route by which intensive traffic is carried is Zadar - Maslenica Bridge - St. Rok Tunnel - Zagreb route.

The Zadar Airport has recently been reconstructed and modernised. With runway improvements still to be undertaken it will eventually have the capacity of handling jumbo-jets.

There is also a very frequent maritime passenger port in the town of Zadar and the cargo maritime port in the Gazenica area whose current manipulative capacity amounts to one million tonnes per year. A construction of a wharf would raise this significantly. The port’s manipulative and warehouse capacities are used only in part.

Economy

The Ravni Kotari area constitutes the greater part of the County's inland, containing most of the cultivated farmland and towns having industry, crafts, trade and traffic development potential.

Tourism is one of the County’s most important industries, owing to its geographical position, mild climate, indented coast, clear sea, numerous bays, inlets and beaches on 1,300 km of the sea coast and islands. Tourist amenities of the Zadar County are also the areas of outstanding natural beauty: the Velebit, Telaščica and Paklenica and adjacent Krka and Kornati national parks in the south and the Plitvice national park in the north.

Administrative division:City of Zadar ;Town of Benkovac ;Town of Biograd na moru ;

Town of Nin ;Town of Obrovac ;Town of Pag ;Town of Gračac ;Municipality of Bibinje ;

Municipality of Galovac ;Municipality of Jasenice ;Municipality of Kali ;Municipality of Kukljica ;Municipality of Ostrovičke ;Municipality of Novigrad ;Municipality of Pakoštane ;

Municipality of Pašman ;Municipality of Polača ;Municipality of Poličnik ;Municipality of Posedarje ;Municipality of Povljane ;Municipality of Preko ;Municipality of Privlaka ;

Municipality of Ražanac ;Municipality of Sali ;Municipality of Stankovci ;Municipality of Starigrad ;Municipality of Sukošan ;Municipality of Sveti Filip i Jakov ;Municipality of Škabrnje ;Municipality of Tkon ;Municipality of Vir ;Municipality of Zemunik Donji .

The county assembly is composed of 41 representatives, organized as follows:

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) 20 ;Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) 10 ;

Croatian Peasants Party (HSS) 4 ;Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) 4 ;Croatian People's Party (HNS.