The survey was carried out on a representative sample of the adult population of Croatia with the aim of measuring social distance towards the Montenegrins, Bosnians, Slovenians and Serbs in 2002, 2005 and 2008. The research results gathered using the Bogardus scale showed a relatively large social distance toward all nationalities which varies significantly from nation to nation. Croatian citizens expressed the greatest social distance toward Serbs and the lowest toward Slovenians. These differences are mostly caused by the war and disintegration of Yugoslavia. The greatest war conflict was with the Serbs, while there was no war conflict with Slovenians at all. In addition, the results show that the social distance decreases with time. There was a significant decrease in social distance in 2008 towards Montenegrin and Bosnian people, but also toward Serbs in comparison to 2002. However, the social distance toward Slovenians is higher in comparison to 2005 due to the unresolved border issues which stopped Croatian entry negotiations to EU.

social distance, Slovenians, Montenegrin, Bosnians Muslims, Serbs