Zagreb County (Croatian: Zagrebačka županija) is a county in central Croatia. Named after the city of Zagreb, this county has a long and eventful history. According to the 2001 census, the county has 309,696 inhabitants. The "Zagreb Ring" is what the Zagreb county is widely known as, as it is in the form of a ring and in this way surrounds the Croatian capital. The Zagreb county once included Zagreb city, but in 1997 was separated when Zagreb City was given special County status (Narodne Novine, br.62/01, 125/08). Although separated from Zagreb City County both in the administrative sense and territorially, it still retains closely linked ties both historically and economically. Zagreb County borders on Krapina-Zagorje County, the city of Zagreb County and Varaždin County in the north, Bjelovar-Bilogora County in the east, Sisak-Moslavina County in the south and Karlovac County in the southwest.