Croatia - Health

Between 1991 and 1992, there were 25,000 war-related deaths. Croatia is in the process of privatizing primary health care in accordance with regulations issued in 1996.

There were 48,535 new births in 1999. The fertility rate was1.5 births per woman in the same year. Life expectancy in 2000 was 73 and infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births was 8. The overall mortality rate in 1999 was 11 per 1,000 people.

Croatia had 84 hospitals in 1997, including both general and tertiary care facilities. The country is known for its spas, where patients receive preventive and rehabilitative care that makes use of spring water and other natural resources, as well as such treatments as massage. As of 1999, there were an estimated 2.3 physicians and 5.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people. In 2000, 95% of the population had access to safe drinking water and 100% had adequate sanitation.

In 1997, immunization rates for children under the age of one were as follows: tuberculosis, 98%; diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, 92%; measles, 93%; and polio, 92%. In 1999, the incidence of tuberculosis was 61 per 100,000 people.

As of 1999, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS was estimated at 350 and deaths from AIDS that year were estimated at fewer than 100. HIV prevalence was 0.02 per 100 adults. In the same year, 61 new cases of tuberculosis were reported per 100,000 people.