the italians in coastal slovenia and croatia were mostly an indigenous population (in 1910 they accounted for more than a third of the local inhabitants, while in istria they were nearly 55%), bolstered by new arrivals or the so called "regnicoli", never well liked by the slavs by the indigenous venetian-speaking istrians, who arrived between 1918-1943, when istria, fiume, part of dalmatia, and the islands of cres (cherso), lussino, lagosta, and pelagosa (palagruža) were part of italy. austrian 1910 census indicated approximately 182,500 people who listed italian as their language of communication in what is now the territory of slovenia and croatia: 137,131 in istria, 28,911 in fiume/rijeka (1918), 11,487 in zara/zadar, 5,000 in dalmatia, while the italian 1936 census indicated approximately 230,000 people who listed italian as their language of communication in what is now the territory of slovenia and croatia, then part of the italian state (ca. 194,000 in today’s croatia and ca. 36,000 in today’s slovenia). from the end of world war ii until 1953, according to various data, between 250,000 and 350,000 people emigrated from these regions. some thousands were slovenes and croats who opposed the communist government in yugoslavia, while most were ethnic italians, the so-called "optanti" emigrants who were living permanently in this region on 10 june 1940 and who expressed their wish to obtain italian citizenship and emigrate to italy. the emigration of italians greatly reduced the total population of the region and totally altered its ethnic structure.