Of the 718 islands, only 47 are inhabited in the sense that at least one person resides on that island.[3] Some sources indicate that Croatia has 67 inhabited islands,[4] counting those that have a settlement,[1] but 20 of those have lost all of their permanent population as a result of the population decline occurring throughout the Croatian islands due to insufficient economic activity.[5]
The Adriatic islands have been populated at least since the time of Ancient Greece. For example, Hvar was already populated between 3500 BC and 2500 BC[6] and Dionysius I of Syracuse founded a colony on Hvar and Vis in the 4th century BC.[7] The combined island population reached its peak in 1921, at 173,503 inhabitants, and went into steady decline in the following decades, dropping to pre-1850s level by 1981.[4] The depopulation trend was reversed only in the 1990s, with the 2001 census registering a population of 122,418, up from 110,953 in 1991.[1]
The main industries on the islands are agriculture, fishing and tourism. The islands' agriculture is primarily devoted to viticulture and olive growing. The local economy is relatively underdeveloped while the cost of living is 10 to 30% higher than on the mainland,[4] so the Croatian government provides various kinds of support and protection through its Islands Act (Croatian: Zakon o otocima) to stimulate the economy of the islands, including charging no tolls on bridges, and providing discounted or free ferry tickets for islanders.[8]
^Faričić, Josip (23 February 2006). "Hrvatski pseudo-otoci". geografija.hr (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
^ a b c dOstroški, Ljiljana, ed. (December 2015). Statistički ljetopis Republike Hrvatske 2015 [Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia 2015] (PDF). Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia (in Croatian and English). Vol. 47. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. p. 47. ISSN 1333-3305. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
^ a b cMinistry of Development and Reconstruction (February 1997). "National island development programme" (PDF). Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-07. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
^Treglav, Bojan (1 September 2006). "Za otoke milijardu kuna godišnje!" (PDF). Vjesnik (in Croatian). pp. 2–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^"Povijest Hvara". hvar.hr (in Croatian). City of Hvar. Archived from the original on 2016-10-28. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
^Hazel, John (2000). Who's who in the Greek world. Routledge. p. 86. ISBN 0-415-12497-2.
^ a b"Vrgada" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Otok Lopud, Dubrovnik" (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Ist" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"The Brodarica - Krapanj Tourist Board". Archived from the original on 2006-09-08. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Koločep" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Susak" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Rava" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Drvenik Mali" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Ilovik" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Zverinac" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Rivanj" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Ošljak" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
^ a b"Biševo" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^ a b"Vele Srakane" (in Croatian). peljar.cvs.hr. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
^Duplančić Leder, Tea; Ujević, Tin; Čala, Mendi (June 2004). "Coastline lengths and areas of islands in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea determined from the topographic maps at the scale of 1 : 25 000" (PDF). Geoadria. 9 (1). Zadar: 5–32. doi:10.15291/geoadria.127. Archived from the original on 2020-03-10. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
^"Cave Srakane". DCS Lošinj. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2010-02-10.