Croatia’s Albanians are two communities in one. There is a small modern minority, most of it in Zagreb and along the coast, and there is something far older and rarer: the Arbanasi of Zadar, descendants of Albanians who settled three hundred years ago and who still keep a unique language of their own. This guide tells both stories.
It is part of our Albanians Around the World series.
Quick Facts: Albanians in Croatia
- Population: 13,817 people, about 0.36 percent of Croatia (2021 census), recognized as a national minority.
- Where they live: Zagreb (3,475 in the 2021 census) and the coast, especially Istria and the Zadar area.
- Historic community: The Arbanasi of Zadar, Albanian Catholics who arrived from the Shkodra region in the 1720s.
- A rare language: Arbanasi, a form of Gheg Albanian mixed with Croatian and Italian, now spoken by only a few hundred people.
On This Page
- How Many Albanians Live in Croatia?
- The Arbanasi of Zadar
- The Albanians of Istria
- The Modern Community
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Albanians Live in Croatia?
The 2021 census recorded 13,817 Albanians in Croatia, about 0.36 percent of the population, one of the country’s recognized national minorities. The number peaked at 17,513 in the 2011 census and has since fallen, as some assimilated and others moved on to higher-wage EU countries. The community is concentrated in the capital, Zagreb (3,475 people in 2021, down from 4,292 in 2011), and along the coast, in Istria, the northern littoral, and the Zadar area.
The Arbanasi of Zadar
The most remarkable Albanian community in Croatia is also the oldest. In 1726 and the years after, Albanian Catholic families from the area of Shkodra and Bar, around Lake Shkodër in what is now northern Albania and Montenegro, fled Ottoman pressure and were resettled by Venice just outside the walls of Zadar. Their new neighborhood was known as Borgo Erizzo, but above all as Arbanasi, the name it and its people still carry today.
What makes the Arbanasi extraordinary is that, after nearly three centuries, they preserved their own tongue. The Arbanasi language is a living relic, a form of northern Gheg Albanian frozen in the 1700s and blended with the Croatian and Italian of the Dalmatian coast. Today only a few hundred people still speak it, and it is considered one of the rarest languages in Europe; in 2016, a Zadar school even began offering classes to keep it alive. Predominantly Catholic and thoroughly Croatian in identity, most Arbanasi now think of themselves as Arbanas Croats rather than Albanians, but their story is a small miracle of survival, a cousin to the Arbereshe of Italy across the Adriatic.
The Albanians of Istria
The Arbanasi were not the first Albanians on Croatian soil. Between the 13th and 17th centuries, Venice settled Albanians in the Istrian peninsula to repopulate lands emptied by war and plague, part of the same policy that scattered Albanian communities across Italy and Greece. One trace of this survived into modern times: Istrian Albanian, an extinct dialect of Gheg once spoken in the village of Katun near Porec, now vanished but remembered as another branch of the old Albanian presence on the Adriatic.
The Modern Community
Alongside these historic communities is a modern one, built mostly in recent decades by Albanians from Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania who came for work, family, and opportunity, many finding jobs in tourism and construction along the coast and in Zagreb. As a recognized national minority, Albanians in Croatia have the right to their own cultural associations and representation, and they keep close ties to the wider Albanian world.
Fifty Years of Census Counts
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) publishes a comparison of every census since 1971, and it shows how quickly the community grew during the Yugoslav decades. In 1971 only 4,175 people in Croatia declared themselves Albanian. Twenty years later the figure had almost tripled.
The same DZS series tracks mother tongue from 1991 onward. In 1991 more people named Albanian as their mother tongue (12,735) than declared Albanian ethnicity (12,032). Since 2001 the pattern has reversed, and in 2021 the gap was 314 people.
| Census | Declared Albanians | Share of population | Albanian mother tongue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 4,175 | 0.09% | Not in the DZS series |
| 1981 | 6,006 | 0.13% | Not in the DZS series |
| 1991 | 12,032 | 0.25% | 12,735 |
| 2001 | 15,082 | 0.34% | 14,621 |
| 2011 | 17,513 | 0.41% | 17,069 |
| 2021 | 13,817 | 0.36% | 13,503 |
Between 2011 and 2021 the count fell by 3,696 people, or about 21 percent. Croatia as a whole shrank over the same decade, from 4,284,889 residents to 3,871,833, so the Albanian share slipped only from 0.41 to 0.36 percent.
Zagreb shows the same trend. The city’s own census report lists 4,292 Albanians in 2011 and 3,475 in 2021, which is 0.45 percent of the capital and roughly a quarter of all Albanians in the country. People with Albanian as their mother tongue in Zagreb went from 4,054 to 3,300.
Religion, Age and Citizenship in the 2021 Census
The 2021 census cross-tabulates ethnicity with religion. Of the 13,817 declared Albanians, 7,421 were Muslim (about 54 percent) and 5,311 were Catholic (about 38 percent). Another 242 belonged to other Christian churches, 235 said they were not religious or atheist, and 143 chose not to answer.
It is a young community by Croatian standards. There were 2,509 Albanians under the age of 15, about 18 percent of the group, and 1,476 aged 65 or older, about 11 percent. For Croatia as a whole the shares were about 14 percent and 22 percent. Men outnumbered women among Albanians, 7,496 to 6,321.
The census also counted residents by citizenship: 1,199 citizens of Kosovo, 1,107 of North Macedonia and 313 of Albania. Those totals include people of every ethnic background, so they are not a count of Albanians, but they give a sense of how many recent arrivals from the region live in Croatia. A further 980 residents declared their ethnicity as Kosovar rather than Albanian, so they are not included in the 13,817.
How the Arbanasi Settlement Took Shape
The Croatian Encyclopedia dates the founding of Arbanasi to 1726, with further groups arriving in 1727 and 1733. It describes the settlers as Catholic Albanians from the areas of Shkodër and Bar, and names Archbishop Vicko Zmajević as the man who received them and organized the settlement. Wikipedia’s entry on the Arbanasi places the home villages, among them Briska, Šestan and Livari, in the Skadarska Krajina region of what is now Montenegro.
The community built its parish church, Our Lady of Loreto, between 1734 and 1737. A primary school opened in 1896 with two weekly lessons in the Arbanasi language, and a second school in 1901 made those lessons compulsory for native speakers.
Arbanasi remained a separate village, known in Italian as Albanesi or Borgo Erizzo, until 1944. Only then was it absorbed into the city of Zadar. Today it has the status of a local board in the southeastern part of the city.
How Many People Still Speak Arbanasi?
Estimates differ, and none of them is a census figure. The Croatian Encyclopedia gives 150 to 300 speakers and classes the speech as a local variety of the Gheg dialect with Croatian and Italian influence. Balkan Insight reported 300 to 500 speakers in 2016. A 2002 estimate cited on Wikipedia put fully competent speakers below 200, with about 500 people who understand it to some degree.
The school program launched in October 2016 teaches standard Albanian, not the Arbanasi dialect itself. According to Balkan Insight, about 46 pupils in two classes enrolled at the Vladimir Nazor high school in Zadar. The classes are optional, the grades do not appear on school certificates, and Croatia’s education ministry approved the curriculum and pays the teacher. The curriculum was drafted by Isak Shema, a specialist from Kosovo.
Minority Councils, Schools and a Seat in Parliament
Croatia’s Government Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities keeps an official profile of the Albanian minority. It reports that 27 Albanian minority councils and 8 individual representatives were elected in the 2019 minority elections. The state budget also funds the community’s publishing, amateur culture and cultural events through the Council for National Minorities.
The same office says Albanian pupils exercise their right to minority education through Model C in primary and secondary schools. The education ministry describes three tracks for minority pupils: Model A is teaching in the minority language and script, Model B is bilingual teaching, and Model C is the cultivation of the minority’s language and culture.
In the Croatian Parliament, Albanians share one reserved seat with four other national minorities. Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj of the Union of Albanians held that seat from 2015 to 2024. The government profile now lists Armin Hodžić as the member representing the group.
Libraries and Associations
Zagreb City Libraries runs the Central Library of Albanians in Croatia inside the Bogdan Ogrizović Library at Preradovićeva 5. Its page lists 2,257 books, 143 audiobooks and 95 visual items, a handful of periodical subscriptions, and 395 members.
The government profile names seven Albanian associations:
- Union of Albanians in the Republic of Croatia, Zagreb
- Albanian Drama Society “Mërgimtari”, Zagreb
- Albanian Cultural Society “Shkëndija”, Zagreb
- Society of Albanian Artists of Croatia (DEA), Sisak
- Club of Albanian Women of Croatia “Queen Teuta”, Zagreb
- Association of the Albanian National Minority of the Island of Krk
- Association of Albanian Women of Zagreb “Drita”, Zagreb
The office lists the City of Zagreb and the counties of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Istria, Split-Dalmatia, Osijek-Baranja, Zagreb and Bjelovar-Bilogora as the places where most Albanians live.
Notable Albanians and Arbanasi of Croatia
- Aleksandar Stipčević (1930 to 2015): an Arbanasi-born historian and archaeologist best known for his work on the Illyrians, published in 1974.
- Pavle Dešpalj: a conductor and composer of Arbanasi origin and a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
- Valter Dešpalj: a cellist of Arbanasi origin and professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb.
- Josip Gjergja: an Arbanasi diplomat who served as Yugoslav ambassador to Albania, among other postings.
- Rahim Ademi and Agim Çeku: Kosovo-born Albanians who served as generals in the Croatian Army in the 1990s. Çeku later became prime minister of Kosovo, from 2006 to 2008.
- Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj: Prizren-born lawyer and leader of the Union of Albanians, who represented the minority in parliament from 2015 to 2024.
Timeline: Albanians in Croatia
- 1726: Arbanasi is founded outside Zadar. More families follow in 1727 and 1733.
- 1734 to 1737: The church of Our Lady of Loreto is built.
- 1896 and 1901: Primary schools in Arbanasi include lessons in the local Albanian speech.
- 1944: Arbanasi stops being a separate settlement and becomes part of Zadar.
- 1971: The census records 4,175 Albanians in Croatia.
- 1991: The count reaches 12,032.
- 2011: The census peak of 17,513.
- 2016: Optional Albanian classes begin at a Zadar high school.
- 2019: 27 Albanian minority councils and 8 representatives are elected.
- 2021: The census records 13,817 Albanians and 13,503 Albanian mother-tongue speakers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Albanians live in Croatia?
The 2021 census counted 13,817, about 0.36 percent of the population, down from a peak of 17,513 in 2011. They are a recognized national minority.
Who are the Arbanasi?
Albanian Catholics who settled near Zadar from the 1720s, coming from the Shkodra region. They still speak the rare Arbanasi language and mostly identify today as Arbanas Croats.
What is the Arbanasi language?
A form of northern Gheg Albanian, preserved from the 18th century and mixed with Croatian and Italian. Only a few hundred people still speak it, making it one of Europe’s rarest languages.
Where do Albanians in Croatia live?
Mainly in Zagreb and along the coast, especially Istria and the Zadar area.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Arbanasi people
- Wikipedia: Albanians of Croatia
- Croatian Bureau of Statistics: 2021 Census, Data of Previous Censuses (ethnicity 1971 to 2021, mother tongue 1991 to 2021)
- Croatian Bureau of Statistics: 2021 Census, Population of the Republic of Croatia (ethnicity by religion, age, citizenship, mother tongue)
- City of Zagreb: 2021 Census Final Results for the City of Zagreb
- Government of Croatia, Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities: Albanians
- Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Youth: Education of National Minorities
- Croatian Encyclopedia (Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography): Arbanasi
- Balkan Insight: Croatian Town Launches Classes to Keep ‘Arbanasi’ Alive
- Zagreb City Libraries: Central Library of Albanians
Related Reading
- Albanians Around the World: The Global Diaspora
- Albanians in Italy (the Arbereshe)
- Albanians in Montenegro
- The Albanian Language
More Albanian diaspora communities
Author: Dardanë Halimi
Dardanë Halimi is a writer and communications professional with an M.A. in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication from James Madison University. Her work focuses on storytelling, digital content, higher education, and strategic communication, with experience writing for academic, nonprofit, and marketing organizations in both the United States and Kosovo.
