MEPs approved Croatia's accession as the 28th member of the EU 1 December. The treaty must be ratified by all 27 member states and Croatia will hold a referendum, after which the country is expected to join the EU on 1 July 2013, but what do you know about Croatia?
Located in Central Europe, Croatia is bordered by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia to the east, Slovenia to the north-west, Hungary to the north-east and Montenegro and the Adriatic Sea to the south. It has mountains, a long coastline and includes over 1000 islands, 48 of which are inhabited.
More details
Croatia is the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world and tourism accounts for 20% of the country's gross domestic product.
Like most Central and Eastern European countries the population is well-educated.
It has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world at 1.5 children per mother.
The EU is Croatia's biggest trading partner and GDP per capita stood at 63% of the EU average in 2008, according to the EU's Eurostat statistics agency.
EU membership
Croatia applied for EU membership in 2003. It became a candidate country in 2004 and accession negotiations started in October 2005, after the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said Croatia was fully cooperating with the court. Negotiations were concluded on 30 June.
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