LJUBLJANA, April 20 (Hina) - The share of Croats in the Slovene population dropped from 2.9% in 1991 to 1.81% in 2002, according to the results of the 2002 census, announced in Ljubljana last week.
LJUBLJANA, April 20 (Hina) - The share of Croats in the Slovene
population dropped from 2.9% in 1991 to 1.81% in 2002, according to
the results of the 2002 census, announced in Ljubljana last week.
#L#
Around 54,000 Slovene citizens declared themselves Croats in the
1991 census, which at the time was the most numerous minority in the
country. Around 35,000 people declared themselves Croats in last
year's census, which makes up 1.81% of Slovenia's population of
1,964,036. Along with possible emigration, this decrease could
also be attributed to citizens' not declaring their nationality,
which was allowed in the latest census. The share of Serbs dropped
as well, from 2.2 to 1.98%.
The number of Catholics between the two censuses saw a dramatic
decrease - from 71% in 1991 to 58% in 2002. Along with the growing
time distance since the end of the communist era, when belonging to
a religion was "in", this decrease is also believed to be the result
of the fact that citizens were not obliged to state their religion
in the last census.
On the other hand, the Islamic community increased from around
30,000 to 47,000, which confirms recent statements by the
community's head, mufti Osman Djogic, that 11 years ago Slovene
Muslims were reluctant to express their religious beliefs.
(hina) rml