Albanians of Croatia

The Albanians of Croatia (Albanian: Shqiptarët në Kroaci; Croatian: Albanci u Hrvatskoj) are people of full or partial Albanian ancestry and heritage who are an ethnic minority in Croatia.

They are an autochthonous national minority recognized by the Constitution of Croatia. As such, they elect a special representative to the Croatian Parliament, shared with members of four other national minorities. The Albanian language is recognised in Croatia.

In the 2011 Croatian census, there were 17,513 Albanians living in Croatia, 0.41% of total population. The largest religious groups among the Albanians were Muslims (9,594 or 54.8% of them) and Catholics (7,109 or 40.6% of them). Arbanasi subgroup, in particular are Roman Catholic of Eastern Orthodox Christians.

In the 1712/14 census done in Lika and Krbava among Vlach population, and other documents, many surnames with Albanian and Arbanasi word roots were recorded, such as those with suffixes "-aj" (e.g. Bulaja, Mataija, Šolaja, Saraja, Suknajić, Rapajić), "-ez" (Kokez, Kekez, Ivez, Malez etc.), and others (Šimleša, Šimrak, Šinđo/a/n, Šintić, Kalember, Flego, Macura, Cecić, Kekić, Zotović etc.).

Albanians arrived in the territory of modern Croatia in waves during various historical periods, primarily as war refugees and nomadic pastoralists. In the Middle Ages they lived in coastal cities and some were assimilated with Vlachs. In the 17th and 18th century, the Arbanasi people settled the area around Zadar, and in modern time they arrived as immigrants or war refugees. Some people in Croatia descended from earlier waves of Albanian migration bear surnames of linguistically Albanian origin, but do not identify as ethnic Albanians, do not speak Albanian and are therefore not considered to be part of the group.