naselja) are the third-level spatial division of the country,[1][2] and usually indicate existing or former human settlement.
[3] Settlements are not necessarily incorporated places,[citation needed] as second-level local authorities (towns and municipalities), known as jedinice lokalne samouprave, delegate some of their functions to so-called jedinice mjesne samouprave (gradski kotar, gradska četvrt, or područje mjesnog odbora).
[1] The Croatian Bureau of Statistics publishes their decennial census data on the basis of official settlement (naselje) data from the Register of Spatial Units by the State Geodetic Administration.
[5] This form of local government is typically used to subdivide larger municipalities and cities; municipality may comprise several units named mjesni odbor (local committee/board), a city usually consists of several units (which may comprise one or more settlements) named gradski kotar/gradska četvrt (city district or borough; pl.
Historically, the methodology of delineating settlements in Croatia changed substantially in the first decade after World War II, when the number of settlements was recorded at 12,044 in the 1948 census, but then reduced to 6,704 in the 1953 census.