Vrhovine (Врховине) is a town and a municipality in Lika-Senj County, Croatia. The municipality is part of Lika.

Languages and names

On the territory of Vrhovine municipality, in addition to Croatian which is official in the whole country, Serbian language and Serbian Cyrillic alphabet have been introduced as a second official language.

Demographics

In the 2001 census, Vrhovine had 905 inhabitants of which 55.03% were Serbs and 38.45% were Croats. In the 2011 census, there were 1,381 inhabitants of which 80.23% were Serbs and 12.74% were Croats. The municipality is composed of the following settlements (population as of 2011): The majority of the population of the municipality is elderly. Because of this, the Croatian Ministry of Family Affairs, War Veterans and Intergenerational Solidarity and the United Nations Development Programme secured funding for a centre for the elderly. The centre was opened by Minister Jadranka Kosor in June, 2008.

Politics

Minority councils and representatives

Directly elected minority councils and representatives are tasked with consulting tasks for the local or regional authorities in which they are advocating for minority rights and interests, integration into public life and participation in the management of local affairs. At the 2023 Croatian national minorities councils and representatives elections Serbs of Croatia fulfilled legal requirements to elect 10 members minority council of the Municipality of Vrhovine.