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The counties of Croatia (Croatian: hrvatske županije) are the first-level administrative subdivisions of the Republic of Croatia. Since they were re-established in 1992, Croatia has been divided into 20 counties and the capital city of Zagreb, which has the authority and legal status of both a county and a city (separate from the surrounding Zagreb County). As of 2015, the counties are subdivided into 128 cities and 428 (mostly rural) municipalities. The divisions have changed over time since the medieval Croatian state. They reflected territorial losses and expansions; changes in the political status of Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Istria; and political circumstances, including the personal union and subsequent development of relations between the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and the Kingdom of Hungary.

County assembly (županijska skupština) is a representative and deliberative body in each county. Assembly members are elected for a four-year term by popular vote (proportional system with closed lists and d'Hondt method) in local elections.

The executive branch of each county's government is headed by a county prefect (župan), except that a mayor heads the city of Zagreb's executive branch. Croatia's county prefects (with two deputy prefects), mayor of Zagreb (with two deputy mayors) are elected for a four-year term by a majority of votes cast within applicable local government units, with a runoff election if no candidate achieves a majority in the first round of voting (majoritarian vote, two-round system). County prefects (with deputy prefects and mayor of Zagreb with his/her deputies) can be recalled by a referendum. County administrative bodies are administrative departments and services which are established for the performance of works in the self-governing domain of the county, as well as for the performance of works of state administration transferred to the county. Administrative departments and services are managed by heads (principals) nominated by the county prefect based on a public competition.

The counties are funded by the central government, as well as by revenue generated by county-owned businesses, county taxes and county fees. The county taxes include a five per cent inheritance and gift tax, a motor vehicle tax, a vessel tax and an arcade game machine tax. The counties are tasked with performing general public administration services, primary and secondary education, government funded healthcare, social welfare, administration pertaining to agriculture, forestry, hunting, fisheries, mining, industry and construction, and other services to the economy at the county level, as well as road transport infrastructure management and issuing of building and location permits and other documents concerning construction in the county area excluding the area of the big city and the county seat city; the central government and local (city and municipal) governments may also perform each of those tasks at their respective levels according to the law. The Croatian County Association (Hrvatska zajednica županija) was established in 2003 as a framework for inter-county cooperation.

County spending accounts for 15 per cent of the total local-government spending in Croatia. The balance is spent by cities and municipalities. Approximately one half of the total spent by the counties is channeled into their primary fields of competence – secondary and vocational education, and financing of maintenance and running costs of healthcare and social welfare institutions. There are instances where individual counties also provide services otherwise delegated to lower-level self-government, such as primary education and spatial planning in cases where those units could not set up those services. The counties are criticized for inefficient spending. The criticism primarily stems from the fact that the counties receive the bulk of the funds needed for specific purposes from the central government budget and transfers them on. This contributes to the sense of absence of responsibility of the counties for the funds. In turn, that leads to very little or no incentive for improvements to spending efficiency or better collection of the county-level taxes. After year 2000, all those considerations have contributed to an ongoing debate in Croatia on the need of consolidation or abolition of the counties in political forums. Opinions on the matter differ considerably. They range from improving efficiency while retaining the existing counties, to consolidation to obtain nine counties, and abolition of the counties in favour of establishment of an administrative division of Croatia in five regions and potentially sub-regions.

Medieval Croatia under the House of Trpimirović was territorially organised for purposes of administration into areas named župa. Each župa was governed either by the king directly or his representative for the territory. The title given to such representatives was župan. Gradually, the term župa was replaced in practice with županija – meaning "the territory governed by a župan. Since the 12th century, the counties have also been referred to by the Latin term comitatus. Since the 20th century, English-language sources use the term county to refer to županija.

The number of counties, their extent and authority have varied significantly, reflecting: changes in the relative levels of power wielded by kings and nobility; territorial changes in the course of the Croatian–Ottoman Wars; and societal and political changes through several centuries. Sources disagree on the number of counties in the medieval Croatian state. The situation is further complicated by existence of nobility-owned lands enjoying special statuses. Historians Ivan Beuc and Josip Vrbošić note that the following eleven counties are normally listed as the oldest known:

• Livno (encompassing the Livanjsko polje, with its seat in the Livno Fortress)
• Cetina (centered on the Cetina river, with its seat in Stolac)
• Imotski (south of Livno County and north of the Biokovo Mountain, seat in Imotski Fortress)
• Pliva (around the Pliva and Vrbas rivers, with seat in Sokograd)
• Pset or Pesenta (between the Una and Unac in the West, and Sana in the East, with seat in the Pset Fortress, now thought to have been in the area of present-day town of Petrovac)
• Primorje or Klis (along the Adriatic's coast between Šibenik and Omiš, with its seat in the Klis Fortress)
• Bribir [hr] (to the west of Primorje County, with the seat in the Bribir Fortress)
• Nona (around Nin as the seat of the county, and Zadar)
• Knin (with its seat in the Knin Fortress)
• Sidraga (in the area between Bribir County and Zadar, likely with seat in Biograd)
• Nina, later renamed Luka (between Knin, Nona, Sidraga and Bribir counties)

In addition to the above, other sources like historian Neven Budak list further three 10th century counties located to the northwest of the territory encompassed by the eleven counties centered around Gacka, Krbava and Lika – and named after those toponyms. There are indications that there were further contemporary counties in Lower Pannonia north of Gvozd Mountain (referred to as the Pannonian Croatia in some sources) in the same period. However, their existence is poorly documented. The prevailing opinion in Croatian historiography is that the Pannonian counties were directly subject to the ruler of the Croatian state, while the counties in the south were largely hereditary, controlled by nobility. In the area between the Kvarner Gulf of the Adriatic Sea, the Mala Kapela mountain, and the rivers of Kupa and Korana, there was the Modruš County in existence in the late 11th century.

The earliest recorded counties in the area between Sava and Drava rivers date back to the 12th century. Those counties are identified as the Zagreb, Varaždin, Virovitica, and Križevci [hr] counties – with the Križevci County reported as the largest of them all. At the same time, Vrbas, Sana and Dubica counties were established to the south of the Sava River (in areas around Vrbas, Sana and the Dubica Fortress [bs] near present-day Dubica respectively) as territories administered by royal appointees on behalf of the king. Another county established south of Sava in the same period was the Glaž County. Just as the Vrbas, Sana, and Dubica counties, sources locate the Glaž County to the northwestern Bosnia, but disagree on its location, placing it around the Ukrina river or, like historian Pál Engel, equating its seat Glaž [hr] with the city of Banja Luka. Engel further noted that Tvrtko I of Bosnia may have surrendered the seat of the county to Hungarian rule by a treaty of 1357. Under the treaty, a part of Hum lands was ceded as dowry of Elizabeth of Bosnia. In the 13th century, the Požega and Vuka counties were established in the area of the modern-day Slavonia to the east of Virovitica and Križevci counties. The Požega, Vuka, Virovitica and Križevci counties were also referred to as the south-Hungarian counties.

In the 13th and 14th century, the Croatian nobility grew stronger and the counties defined by the king were reduced to a formal framework, while military and financial power was wielded by the nobility and especially the king. Other forms of administration that overlapped with county administration in this period included the Roman Catholic Church and the free royal cities, and separately the cities of Dalmatia. In such circumstances, the nobility had little incentive to perform county duties and often appointed deputies to preside over county court proceedings hearing matters of little importance once every two weeks – as all major issues were normally delegated by royal exemptions to be ruled upon on a case-by-case basis. This further diminished significance of the counties. Modruš County ceased to exist as an administrative unit as it was broken up into multiple feudal estates. Vuka, Požega and Virovitica counties were lost to the Ottoman conquest. The Vuka County became defunct in the early 16th century, Požega was conquered in 1537, and Virovitica in 1552. The Vrbas, Sana and Dubica counties also existed until the Ottoman conquest, while Glaž was last mentioned in preserved historical records in 1469.

At the time of 1527 election in Cetin and the start of rule of the House of Habsburg, only three counties remained due to territorial losses to the Ottoman Empire – Zagreb, Varaždin, and Križevci counties. The gradual decline of importance of the counties, already present before the Habsburg era, continued as the Ottoman threat increased. Following the Ottoman defeat in the Great Turkish War and the subsequent 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz, as well as the Ottoman defeat in the 1716–1718 Austro-Turkish War, the territories organised in counties were expanded in 1745. The territorial expansion was accompanied by an expansion of county prerogatives: The head of the county – supremus comes (veliki župan) – was authorised to govern in a range administrative, judicial and military affairs in the name of the king. Males of legal age residing in the county whose family originates from the county were eligible to be appointed the supremus comes. His duties were discharged through two deputies for judiciary and administration respectively, judges, as well as other professionals such as lawyers, physicians, engineers, tax collectors, etc. This expansion saw establishment of the Virovitica, Požega, and Syrmia counties. In 1778, the Severin County was established south of Zagreb, extending to the Adriatic Sea. In 1786, the Severin County was abolished. Its coastal areas extending from Fiume (modern-day Rijeka) to Senj to form the Hungarian Littoral, while the remainder was added to the Zagreb County.

In the 1850s, during the period of Bach's absolutism that followed the revolutions in the Austrian Empire Križevci and Syrmia counties were abolished and their territories added to neighbouring counties and to the Serbian Vojvodina respectively. At the same time, the Rijeka County was established in the territories previously included in the Hungarian Littoral – bringing the total number of counties to five. Virtually all these changes were reversed by the 1868 Croatian–Hungarian Settlement. However, the Hungarian Littoral was abolished and the legal Corups separatum was carved out of Fiume and its immediate surroundings to be ruled directly by Hungary, while the remainder of the Rijeka County (also referred to as the Croatian Littoral) was a part of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia – itself a product of merger of Croatia and Slavonia, consisting of seven counties after the settlement.

In 1871, the Varaždin Generalate of the Croatian Military Frontier was abolished by the central authorities of the recently established Austria-Hungary and the bulk of the Bjelovar County spanning the territory previously under military control between the kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia and including the cities of Bjelovar (as the county capital) and Ivanić Grad. A small part of the former Varaždin Generalate (the town of Kutina) was added to the Požega County. At the same time, the military part of Sisak was transferred to the civilian rule and added to the Zagreb County, while the Rijeka County received demilitarised Senj.

Population of the counties of the kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia in 1773–1871

County	Seat	Population (1773)	Population (1785–87)	Population (1802)	Population (1871)
Križevci [hr]	Križevci	53,523	66,493	61,566	87,878
Požega	Požega	54,108	66,161	66,987	76,881
Syrmia	Vukovar	63,532	81,886	89,721	120,559
Varaždin	Varaždin	56,969	90,916	102,616	173,088
Virovitica	Osijek	92,852	116,578	129,641	185,352
Zagreb	Zagreb	182,071	187,106	188,343	267,720
Littoral/Rijeka	Rijeka	–	27,951	28,156	90,070
Bjelovar	Bjelovar	–	–	–	158,007

In 1873, the remainder of the Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontiers was demilitarised and transferred to the civil authority. Ban Ivan Mažuranić organised the thus acquired territory by establishing six districts. Area of responsibility of each of the three Slavonian Military Frontier regiments was made a district. Elsewhere, two regimental areas of responsibility were combined to form a new district each. All the districts were named after the town hosting the regimental headquarters, except the district formed in First and the Second Ban's regiments' areas of responsibility which became the Ban's District (Banski okrug, also referred to as Banovina). Territories of the existing eight counties were reorganised internally in 1875. Districts were abolished as their subdivisions and each county was divided into two to four sub-counties (podžupanija). There were also some changes to the borders of the counties. The most significant was transfer of a portion of the Bjelovar County to the Križevci County.

In 1886, new legislation on the territories of the counties. Rijeka, Bjelovar, and Križevci counties were abolished, but the Lika-Krbava, Bjelovar-Križevci, and Modruš-Rijeka counties were established. Five of the eight counties kept their existing names, but most of them were expanded to encompass (together with the newly established counties) the former districts previously established in place of the Military Frontier. The sub-counties were abolished, and subdivisions of the counties into districts and administrative municipalities was introduced. This arrangement remained in effect until the Croatian counties were abolished in 1922, while some minor adjustments of county boundaries happened in 1913. Through 1886 reform, the counties were set up as self-governmental units in contrast to earlier county incarnations since the Middle Ages. Each had an assembly with the wealthiest taxpayers comprising half the assembly members and elected members comprising the remaining half. One assembly member was meant to represent 2000 county residents. The assemblies appointed administrative committees as their executive bodies The supremus comes was appointed by the king and county officials by the Ban. Administration of each county had six members elected by the county assembly, while the remaining members were county officials ex officio (supremus comes and deputies, county health supervisor etc.). Counties were divided into districts (Croatian kotari as government units similar to Austrian Bezirke), while municipalities (općine) and cities (gradovi) were units of local self-government. In the 1870 reform following the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement, powers of the counties were transformed. They became less independent from the central government in determination of local government policies.

Sub-counties introduced by the 1875 reform

County	Seat	Area	Sub-counties
Bjelovar	Bjelovar	3,475 km (1,342 sq mi)	Bjelovar, Križ
Križevci [hr]	Križevci	2,163 km (835 sq mi)	Križevci, Koprivnica
Požega	Požega	2,379 km (919 sq mi)	Požega, Pakrac
Rijeka	Ogulin	1,601 km (618 sq mi)	Rijeka, Delnice
Syrmia	Vukovar	2,476 km (956 sq mi)	Vukovar, Ruma
Varaždin	Varaždin	2,322 km (897 sq mi)	Varaždin, Zlatar, Krapina-Toplice
Virovitica	Osijek	4,781 km (1,846 sq mi)	Osijek, Virovitica, Đakovo
Zagreb	Zagreb	4,076 km (1,574 sq mi)	Zagreb, Karlovac, Sisak, Jastrebarsko

Size and population of the counties of Croatia-Slavonia after the 1886 reform

County	Seat	Area (1886–1912)	Population (1910)	Arms	Geographic coordinates
Bjelovar-Križevci	Bjelovar	5,048 km (1,949 sq mi)	331,385		45°55′14″N 16°45′54″E / 45.92056°N 16.76500°E / 45.92056; 16.76500 (Bjelovar-Križevci County (historical))
Lika-Krbava	Gospić	6,217 km (2,400 sq mi)	203,973		44°42′28″N 15°21′12″E / 44.70778°N 15.35333°E / 44.70778; 15.35333 (Lika-Krbava County (historical))
Modruš-Rijeka	Ogulin	4,874 km (1,882 sq mi)	231,354		45°19′30″N 14°58′28″E / 45.32500°N 14.97444°E / 45.32500; 14.97444 (Modruš-Rijeka County (historical))
Požega	Požega	4,938 km (1,907 sq mi)	263,690		45°22′45″N 17°31′4″E / 45.37917°N 17.51778°E / 45.37917; 17.51778 (Požega County (historical))
Syrmia	Vukovar	6,848 km (2,644 sq mi)	410,007		45°4′53″N 19°15′33″E / 45.08139°N 19.25917°E / 45.08139; 19.25917 (Syrmia County (historical))
Varaždin	Varaždin	2,521 km (973 sq mi)	305,558		46°15′7″N 16°11′38″E / 46.25194°N 16.19389°E / 46.25194; 16.19389 (Varaždin County (historical))
Virovitica	Osijek	4,852 km (1,873 sq mi)	269,199		45°38′27″N 17°51′30″E / 45.64083°N 17.85833°E / 45.64083; 17.85833 (Virovitica County (historical))
Zagreb	Zagreb	7,215 km (2,786 sq mi)	587,378		45°38′27″N 16°11′57″E / 45.64083°N 16.19917°E / 45.64083; 16.19917 (Zagreb County (historical))

The traditional division of Croatia into counties was abolished in 1922, when the oblasts of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were introduced; these were later replaced by the banovinas of Yugoslavia. Socialist Republic of Croatia, as a constituent part of post-World War II Yugoslavia had approximately 100 municipalities as main governmental units and local government entities. The counties were reintroduced in 1992, but with significant territorial alterations from the pre-1922 subdivisions; for instance, before 1922 Transleithanian Croatia was divided into eight counties, but the new legislation established fourteen counties in the same territory. Međimurje County was established in the eponymous region acquired through the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. The county borders have sometimes changed since their 1992 restoration (for reasons such as historical ties and requests by cities); the latest revision took place in 2006. After the end of the Croatian War of Independence and during the UNTAES process in eastern Croatia, local Serb population and representatives unsuccessfully proposed various initiatives to preserve the former rebel region as one territorial unit within Croatia, including the proposal to create a new "Serb county" in the region. Present-day counties correspond to the 2021 classification of tier three of the European Union NUTS statistical regions of Croatia.

Counties of Croatia established in 1992

County	Seat	Regions	Statistical Regions	Area (2006)	Population (2021)	GDP per capita (2019)	Arms	Geographic coordinates
Bjelovar-Bilogora	Bjelovar	Central Croatia	Pannonian Croatia	2,640 km (1,020 sq mi)	101,879	07986€9,132		45°54′10″N 16°50′51″E / 45.90278°N 16.84750°E / 45.90278; 16.84750 (Bjelovar-Bilogora County)
Brod-Posavina	Slavonski Brod	Slavonia	Pannonian Croatia	2,030 km (780 sq mi)	130,267	06607€8,211		45°09′27″N 18°01′13″E / 45.15750°N 18.02028°E / 45.15750; 18.02028 (Brod-Posavina County)
Dubrovnik-Neretva	Dubrovnik	Dalmatia	Adriatic Croatia	1,781 km (688 sq mi)	115,564	13277€14,673		42°39′13″N 18°05′41″E / 42.65361°N 18.09472°E / 42.65361; 18.09472 (Dubrovnik-Neretva County)
Istria	Pazin	Istria	Adriatic Croatia	2,813 km (1,086 sq mi)	195,237	15570€15,960		45°14′21″N 13°56′19″E / 45.23917°N 13.93861°E / 45.23917; 13.93861 (Istria County)
Karlovac	Karlovac	Central Croatia	Pannonian Croatia	3,626 km (1,400 sq mi)	112,195	08301€9,510		45°29′35″N 15°33′21″E / 45.49306°N 15.55583°E / 45.49306; 15.55583 (Karlovac County)
Koprivnica-Križevci	Koprivnica	Central Croatia	Northern Croatia	1,748 km (675 sq mi)	101,221	08711€10,110		46°10′12″N 16°54′33″E / 46.17000°N 16.90917°E / 46.17000; 16.90917 (Koprivnica-Križevci County)
Krapina-Zagorje	Krapina	Central Croatia	Northern Croatia	1,229 km (475 sq mi)	120,702	07919€8,954		46°7′30″N 15°48′25″E / 46.12500°N 15.80694°E / 46.12500; 15.80694 (Krapina-Zagorje County)
Lika-Senj	Gospić	Central Croatia	Adriatic Croatia	5,353 km (2,067 sq mi)	42,748	08878€10,725		44°42′25″N 15°10′27″E / 44.70694°N 15.17417°E / 44.70694; 15.17417 (Lika-Senj County)
Međimurje	CČakovecČakovec	Central Croatia	Northern Croatia	0,730729 km (281 sq mi)	105,250	10302€11,476		46°27′58″N 16°24′50″E / 46.46611°N 16.41389°E / 46.46611; 16.41389 (Međimurje County)
Osijek-Baranja	Osijek	Slavonia	Pannonian Croatia	4,155 km (1,604 sq mi)	258,026	08684€10,232		45°38′13″N 18°37′5″E / 45.63694°N 18.61806°E / 45.63694; 18.61806 (Osijek-Baranja County)
Požega-Slavonia	Požega	Slavonia	Pannonian Croatia	1,823 km (704 sq mi)	64,084	06620€8,217		45°18′40″N 17°44′24″E / 45.31111°N 17.74000°E / 45.31111; 17.74000 (Požega-Slavonia County)
Primorje-Gorski Kotar	Rijeka	Central Croatia	Adriatic Croatia	3,588 km (1,385 sq mi)	265,419	14797€15,232		45°27′14″N 14°35′38″E / 45.45389°N 14.59389°E / 45.45389; 14.59389 (Primorje-Gorski Kotar County)
Sisak-Moslavina	Sisak	Central Croatia	Pannonian Croatia	4,468 km (1,725 sq mi)	139,603	07868€9,706		45°13′15″N 16°15′5″E / 45.22083°N 16.25139°E / 45.22083; 16.25139 (Sisak-Moslavina County)
Split-Dalmatia	Split	Dalmatia	Adriatic Croatia	4,540 km (1,750 sq mi)	423,407	09636€10,759		43°10′0″N 16°30′0″E / 43.16667°N 16.50000°E / 43.16667; 16.50000 (Split-Dalmatia County)
SŠibenikŠibenik-Knin	SŠibenikŠibenik	Dalmatia	Adriatic Croatia	2,984 km (1,152 sq mi)	96,381	09713€11,325		43°55′44″N 16°3′43″E / 43.92889°N 16.06194°E / 43.92889; 16.06194 (Šibenik-Knin County)
Varaždin	Varaždin	Central Croatia	Northern Croatia	1,262 km (487 sq mi)	159,487	10899€12,112		46°19′16″N 16°13′52″E / 46.32111°N 16.23111°E / 46.32111; 16.23111 (Varaždin County)
Virovitica-Podravina	Virovitica	Slavonia	Pannonian Croatia	2,024 km (781 sq mi)	70,368	06525€7,869		45°52′23″N 17°30′18″E / 45.87306°N 17.50500°E / 45.87306; 17.50500 (Virovitica-Podravina County)
Vukovar-Srijem	Vukovar	Slavonia	Pannonian Croatia	2,454 km (947 sq mi)	143,113	06730€8,606		45°13′43″N 18°55′0″E / 45.22861°N 18.91667°E / 45.22861; 18.91667 (Vukovar-Srijem County)
Zadar	Zadar	Central Croatia (ThroughGračac) and Dalmatia	Adriatic Croatia	3,646 km (1,408 sq mi)	159,766	10803€11,544		44°1′5″N 15°53′42″E / 44.01806°N 15.89500°E / 44.01806; 15.89500 (Zadar County)
Zagreb	Zagreb	Central Croatia	Northern Croatia	3,060 km (1,180 sq mi)	299,985	09710€10,769		45°44′56″N 15°34′16″E / 45.74889°N 15.57111°E / 45.74889; 15.57111 (Zagreb County)
Zagreb, the city ofCity of Zagreb		Central Croatia	Zagreb, the city ofCity of Zagreb	0,641641 km (247 sq mi)	767,131	22695€23,742		45°49′0″N 15°59′0″E / 45.81667°N 15.98333°E / 45.81667; 15.98333 (City of Zagreb)

Defunct counties of Croatia

County	Period of existence
Livno	From c. 10th century until an undetermined time. Defunct by the 16th century.
Cetina
Imotski
Pliva
Pset/Pesenta
Primorje/Klis
Bribir [hr]
Nona
Knin
Sidraga
Nina/Luka
Gacka
Krbava
Lika
Modruš	11th – 13th/14th century
Vrbas	From c. 12th century until an undetermined time. Defunct by the 16th century.
Sana
Dubica
Glaž
Zagreb	12th century – 1922
Varaždin
Križevci [hr]	12th century – 1886
Vuka	13th – 16th century
Virovitica	13th – 16th century; 1745 – 1922
Požega
Syrmia	1745 – 1848; 1868 – 1922
Severin	1778 – 1786
Rijeka	1851 – 1886
Bjelovar	1871 – 1886
Bjelovar-Križevci	1886 – 1922
Lika-Krbava
Modruš-Rijeka
In 1922, all counties in existence at the time were abolished.

• Administrative divisions of Croatia
• Flags of the counties of Croatia
• List of county prefects of Croatia
• List of Croatian counties by Human Development Index
• History of Croatia
• Administrative divisions of the Banovina of Croatia
• Counties of the Independent State of Croatia
• ISO 3166-2:HR