As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Milan returned home to Croatia after living and working in Germany for eleven years. He moved his family and construction company to his native town of Imotski, in the rugged Dalmatian hinterland.

“It’s definitely a final thing. I missed my homeland, Imotski, Zagreb… all of that so much, and I want to be there now. It isn’t necessarily that Croatia has improved so much, it’s more than Germany is collapsing. Salaries increased by 10 to 15 percent, but alongside that, everything became abnormally expensive,” stated Milan Katanušić for RTL.

Among the Croats in Germany not planning to return home is Marija from Zagreb, who has been living in Munich for a decade now and plans to stay there. In addition to having a good and secure job in finance, she and her colleagues also developed a mobile application (app) with advice for those moving to Germany.

“I finished college in Germany, started a family, started two businesses… If someone had asked me where I would be ten years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to say with certainty that it would be Germany,” stated Marija Šimić.

“There are still plenty of Croats in Germany, but many can’t live there with their average German pensions, so it’s a little easier for them to go back to Croatia at that point,” explained Katanušić.

For the first time in a decade, more Croats emigrated from Germany than immigrated

Last year, far fewer foreigners immigrated to Germany than in previous years, and the number of Croatian citizens who immigrated to Germany fell for the first time, the Federal Statistical Office announced. “Germany recorded a decline in the number of immigrants last year. While 2,665,772 foreigners arrived in Germany in 2022, last year that number stood at 1,932,509,” the Federal Statistical Office claimed in a statement.

At the same time, considering that 1,269,545 foreigners emigrated from Germany, the net number of immigrants fell to 662,964, which is a noticeable drop compared to 2022, when the net number of immigrants was 1,462,089.

This decline is primarily associated with the record number of refugees from Ukraine who immigrated to Germany back in 2022, and whose number dropped significantly in 2023.

For the first time since Croatia’s entry into the European Union (2013), in 2023, more Croats emigrated from Germany than immigrated to it. That means that last year, 20,604 Croats immigrated to Germany, which is the lowest number since 2013, when Croatia acquired full EU membership. Last year, 24,241 Croats emigrated from Germany, which means that in 2023, the number of Croats living in Germany dropped by a significant 3,637.

A total of 434,035 Croats were registered as living in Germany at the end of 2023. A few years earlier, in 2016, 332,605 Croats were registered in Germany.

The post More Croats Leave Germany Than Move There appeared first on Total Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Domagoj Puljizovic writes, the departure of almost 400,000 Croatian citizens since joining the EU, mainly to other EU countries, has directly affected the labour shortage and resulted in the arrival of more than a hundred thousand, mostly lower-skilled workers from Nepal, the Philippines, India and Pakistan. The import of foreign labour isn’t remotely a long-term solution for the Croatian economy. The organisers of the sixth Croatian Emigrant Congress (HIK), which will be held in Pula from June the 27th to the 30th, warned.

If the state doesn’t appropriately respond to the needs of assimilation and quality integration of these increasing numbers of foreign workers into society, for which Croatia needs considerable financial resources, there is a danger of ghettoisation of new immigrants. The consequences of something like that can be long-term and damaging for Croatian society. These problems are now of a clear political nature.

“At the congress, more than 150 participants will speak about various topics important for relations between the homeland and Croatian emigrants, and our focus is to create an entrepreneurial atmosphere in Croatia in order to attract as many emigrants as possible to invest in Croatia,” said Marin Sopta, president of the Programme of the HIK committee from the Croatian Emigration Research Centre.

Entrepreneurs Zdenko Štriga, Marko Rudela, Sara Dyson, Mario Jakus, Rob Anderson and Tomislav Mustapić will discuss the value of experiences and business contacts of the Croatian diaspora for doing business in Croatia, and the discussion will be moderated by Don Markušić.

“The idea is that Croatian returnees and immigrants from the USA, Australia, Canada and Germany talk about running a business in Croatia through their personal experiences. They’ll also talk about Croats abroad should return to their homeland and invest in it,” said Sopta. The reluctance of emigrants to return to Croatia should not be traced to the Homeland War because those are now quite firmly matters of the past, he added. “The main problem is that there’s absolutely no political will for a mass return.

If such a political will existed, then more specific measures would be taken following the example of Israel, Spain, Portugal, Poland and other such countries. Sluggish bureaucracy is also a problem. In Canada you can set up your company in one day, but here you need hundreds of papers. Our people are not used to that,” he said.

Debureaucratisation

He believes that the descendants of the second and third generation of Croatian emigrants should be enabled to receive citizenship automatically with proof of origin, so that they can more easily deal with their paperwork, and not have to wait for it for three or four years.

“When it comes to investments, we’ve failed to achieve the desired results. Businesspeople will not return to Croatia out of love for the country if they’re just going to lose money. The state must offer benefits in order to attract expatriate investors”, believes Sopta.

The Ministry of Demography and Immigration will not be able to make changes and speed up the return of emigrants without the support of the Ministry of Economy, Culture, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Register of Emigrants, they concluded from the Croatian Emigration Research Centre.

The post Croatian Emigration Research Centre Discusses Demographic Issues appeared first on Total Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, in a report published on the online portal of the Editorial Network of Germany (RND) about life in the “youngest EU Member State”, author Thorsten Fuchs notes that the figures do show Croatia’s unquestionable economic progress after eleven years of EU membership. Here’s what DW has transmitted:

“Croatia’s GDP grew from almost 60 to a good 71 billion US dollars in 2022, unemployment has fallen from 17 to 6 to 7 percent, and annual wages are almost as high as in Poland and Hungary. In addition, the country receives enormous financial aid from the EU – 30 billion euros only from 2021 to 2027,” the text states.

But at the same time corruption is also pointed out as a big problem. Over the past eight years, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has had to dismiss a shocking 30 ministers, most of them due to accusations of corruption. The country is only in 56th place in Transparency International’s global corruption index. Under the new law, whistleblowers who quote from investigative files face up to three years in prison. According to a new survey, 74 percent of the population is dissatisfied with the direction in which the country is developing,” writes RND.

The author also quotes Sonja Schirmbeck from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Zagreb. “Outwardly, the government presents itself as pro-European and committed to the rule of law, but internally we see a huge democratic regression. Therefore, no matter how gloomy the image that citizens have of their politicians, many are satisfied with the fact that they’re part of the EU. Especially considering our own history”, the author states.

It is the same with the owner of one hair salon, Ksenija Jukčić. Her 30-year-old son works as a marine engineer in Rotterdam. The EU? It’s the best thing that could have ever happened to us,” she says. That’s because EU membership enabled her son to have a better life.

Hana Zoričić, Deputy Chief State Treasurer in the Ministry of Finance, also shows clear enthusiasm for the European Union. Her last major task was preparing the country for the introduction of the euro. “It’s good to be part of this big family called the EU. It’s exciting to sit at the table and see how other countries and the European Commission see us as equal members,” she said, adding that she had various offers to work as a consultant for large companies, with a much higher salary, but, she says, “I never wanted to do anything other than these big strategic projects.”

That’s all well and good, but Croatia is becoming empty and demographic issues plague the nation. For many, European Union membership is important, but in a much smaller way. Rodoljub and Višnja Džakula are the owners of a small OPG (family farm) in Banija/Banovina. They produce ecological and bio products, mainly meat. “We live better here thanks to the European Union,” emphasised Višnja, before adding: “the problem we have is Croatian politics. They don’t understand the model we need for our region.”

Despite rising overall standards and a low unemployment rate, the economic situation of young people in Croatia is still bad. The prices of both housing and general living expenses are constantly rising, writes the German journalist, despite believing that Croatia is destined to be left empty. He gives the example of Emanuel, a 21-year-old Croat who works as a waiter and earns 1,000 euros a month.

That doesn’t sound bad at all at first glance, but in the end he doesn’t have much left when he pays 550 euros for his apartment alone.

“Therefore, more and more young Croats are thinking about leaving the country.” According to a representative survey by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which will be published in autumn, today, 40 percent more young people are thinking about moving outside of Croatia than they were six years ago. The trend is already noticeable, recently the number of inhabitants fell below four million (according to the 2021 census).

Emanuel also wants to go. His desires are either Ireland or Sweden, because he heard that everyone there speaks English. All his friends think he should make the move, says Emanuel.

“In 20 years, Croatia will be empty”, states the rather stark text of the German journalist Thorsten Fuchs on the RND portal.

Our response to this is that while there are some absolutely indisputable truths in this text, there is also a lot that has been rather conveniently skipped over. Croatia’s IT, tech and startup scene is blossoming. The country has transformed in a very, very short period of time in this sense, with more and more international investors eyeing Croatian companies, products and innovation. And no, we’re not just talking about Rimac.

The demographic issues that once primarily plagued the chronically overlooked eastern realms of this country have certainly spread, and EU membership was a double-edged knife. It offered Croatia a lot in its standing in Europe and the world, but it also gave plenty of Croats a literal free pass to leave and go and build a life elsewhere with no boundaries or bureaucratic burdens.

Will Croatia really be empty in two decades? We don’t have a crystal ball, but not everything here is as bleak as the international media would (for some reason) have you readily believe. We’ll have to check back in with Thorsten when the time comes.

The post German Portal Claims Croatia Will Be Empty In 20 Years appeared first on Total Croatia.

Slavonia, Baranja and eastern Croatia as a whole have always been the most heavily dogged by demographic issues, and with a newly blossoming IT scene in Osijek, the time is now to make sure as many stay there as possible.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, some brand new Osijek demographic measures are hoping to breathe a lease of life into the city. One of the most promising measures is intended for 7,200 students of its elementary schools, worth 1.2 million euros. There are several more measures also being carefully prepared, the aim of which is to make the city a desirable and competitive place to live, as the Osijek City Administration reported this week.

At the related press conference, Osijek Mayor Ivan Radić said that the new measures include free school workbooks, atlases, maps for art education and boxes for technical education. All of these will be on the desks of elementary school students attending school in Osijek this autumn, more specifically at the beginning of the new academic year.

He stated that this will significantly relieve the household budgets of parents because. In the typical household budget of a family with one child attending the 1st grade of primary school in Osijek, this will result in savings of 68.90 euros.

For a family with two children attending the 5th and 8th grade of elementary school in Osijek, the savings for the household budget will amount to 379.30 euros, Mayor Radić added.

Among the most important Osijek demographic measures set to be introduced over the coming period, the mayor pointed out the construction of three new kindergartens and the extension of two existing ones. Those projects carry a total value of 6.5 million euros, and they’ll work to ensure enrolment in Osijek’s kindergartens for more than 400 children.

As additional Osijek demographic measures, he mentioned the construction of a central kitchen for kindergartens and primary schools, which will make Osijek the first and only city in Croatia to have it. In addition, there will be an extension of the primary schools in Osijek to facilitate the switch to all-day classes.

Radić also recalled the Osijek demographic measures that have already been implemented. Those include this year’s increase in the amount of compensation for each newborn child to 350 euros, which is 30 percent more compared to last year.

“By reorganising the existing spaces, we secured 500 additional kindergarten places compared to 2021, which is equivalent to the construction of five new kindergartens. Back in 2021, Osijek had 246 female educators, today there are 361. We’ve also enrolled all children over the age of four in our kindergartens, as well as all children who have two working parents,” the Osijek mayor revealed.

He explained that budget allocations for kindergartens have also been increased, which amounted to 5.5 million euros in 2021. At the moment, they’re at the level of 9.5 million euros. By the end of May, there will be a proposal to increase this sum to 11.6 million euros through financial restructuring.

The city administration believes that the new Osijek demographic measures are also rather heavily influenced by economic indicators. Those indicators across the wider Osijek area show growth.

The post New Osijek Demographic Measures Provide Hope for Eastern City appeared first on Total Croatia.

As Marina Klepo/Jutarnji/Novac writes, as if Croatia wasn’t already full of enough paradoxes, another one on the real estate market has come to be. There are an increasing number of totally empty apartments across the country, and at the same time, Croatian properties have never been more costly.

The 2021 census revealed all

This has now finally been confirmed by official statistics. In a decade, the number of uninhabited apartments in this country has increased by 43 percent, to around 600,000, and Croatia also has 231 thousand holiday homes, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) recently announced, citing data from the Population Census taken two years ago (in 2021).

At the same time, from 2011 to 2021, the number of apartments in Croatia increased by 6.5 percent, to 2.4 million, while the number of occupied apartments decreased by 4.2 percent. “Uninhabited” are those apartments, explained the CBS, which at the time of the creation of the List “weren’t being used for permanent residence, and this can be for the following reasons: an unoccupied apartment in a new building in which moving in is permitted, an apartment that needs to be rented or sold, an apartment is vacant due to relocation, repairs or other reasons”.

Is this trend altering?

One of the reasons for the increase in the number of empty apartments is probably the increased emigration of residents, but Dubravko Ranilović, president of the Real Estate Business Association at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), believes that many things have coincided in recent years that have helped this trend.

“We had economic growth, low interest rates, high inflation and increased investments in real estate. However, with the rise in interest rates, this trend is changing, and the number of transactions is decreasing,” explained Ranilović. Among the many empty apartments, he believes that a large part of that list is actually occupied by apartments intended for tourist rental, as well as real estate that was bought by foreigners in Croatia in recent years.

Lana Mihaljinac Knežević from the real estate agency Zagreb West also holds a similar opinion. According to her, the accumulated number of empty apartments is related to several key factors. First of all, with the fact that Croatian citizens prefer to invest their savings in real estate. This traditional approach to investing was further fuelled by years of historically low interest rates, which made keeping savings in the bank unprofitable. Then, high incomes from tourism, which are taxed at a low rate, and a large, growing number of people who have their own funds for investments generated from tourism itself.

“A tax policy that doesn’t in any way stimulate the activation of real estate that the owners don’t use for living or rent, and finally, a lot was purchased in the past year due to the introduction of the euro, and also over the last two due to the increase in inflation,” she explained.

The problem of empty apartments has been recognised for some time, and recently it was possible to hear estimates that there are around 54,000 empty apartments in the City of Zagreb alone, and 8,600 down in Split. How might we solve the problem of conflicting trends, empty and yet wildly expensive Croatian properties? Many economists and experts believe that the trend of excessive investment in real estate and the issue of affordable housing must be solved through the introduction of a proper, high-quality tax policy. Although he doesn’t advocate for a general tax on Croatian properties, Ranilović believes that taxing empty real estate would be useful.

Taxation disparities

“There’s a big disparity in the taxation of tourist and long-term rent when it comes to Croatian properties. While long-term rent is taxed at a rate of 12 percent, in tourism, this rate barely stands at 1 percent,” he explained. After giving up subsidising loans, the Croatian Government made a decision back in April to create the first strategic document that deals with properly and more clearly defining the housing policy. It will be interesting to note how any new introductions will play out, as Croatian properties continue to soar in terms of price and rapidly empty for a multitude of reasons.

The post Croatian Properties Have Never Been More Expensive appeared first on Total Croatia.

At the conference “Demography in Focus: Research of Local and Regional Perspectives in Eastern Croatia,” Roko Mišetić, vice-rector at the Croatian Catholic University, pointed out that the data on population decline by region showed that 38 percent of the negative migration balance was in eastern Croatia, reports Index.

Various Factors

He said that the drivers are various, from economic to psychological aspects, lack of social activities, or destabilization in the community, adding that such things can be changed in cumulative, small steps.

Local units are used to all measures and ideas coming from the state, offices, or ministries, and funds are provided from the budget. However, many measures are not financially demanding and should come from below, from local communities.

Mayors know the situation in their areas and which activities could positively impact demographic trends. They do not have to require a lot of resources, said Mišetić.

The State Secretary of the Central State Office for Youth Demography, Željka Josić, said several measures are being implemented through various departments. Not a single measure alone will achieve a good result, though.

Two Legal Frameworks Increasing Maternity Benefits in Eastern Croatia

He believes the state cannot influence how many children a family will have, but every family should be offered a quality job, permanent work, and quality services.

Through two legal frameworks, her office has increased maternity benefits and introduced paternity leave. Josić announces that she will increase the child allowance and notes that employment and self-employment policies have proven promising.

The Prefect of Osijek-Baranja, Ivan Anušić, warned of an alarming situation but also assessed that the return of people who left Osijek-Baranja County in the past ten years has begun.

Those who went to Ireland are now returning, finding jobs, and staying here, stressed Anušić. He estimates that between 30 and 40 percent of people who have left this area over the past decade are back.

This, however, is not enough. Anušić sees the organization of the state and the security and protection of man in the legal and every other sense as crucial for demography.

The post Eastern Croatia Still Struggles With Demography appeared first on Total Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, quite traditionally at this time of the year, the domestic labour market is usually under the influence of increased seasonal employment, meaning that the number of unemployed individuals registered in the records of the Croatian Employment Service (CES) has decreased by about 3,500 over the last 20 days of March, down to the current 14,400.

Over more recent days, the aforementioned institute published a detailed picture of developments from within the Croatian unemployment records over the first two months of 2023. About 188,000 registered unemployed people at the end of February compared to the previous month means a drop of almost 4,400, and on the annual level, the number of unemployed individuals stood at about 12,500.

Although the number of unemployed women remains higher than the number of unemployed men, in year-on-year comparisons, a stronger decline has been recorded among women (11.7 vs. 6.8%). Percentage-wise, in that year unemployment decreased the most, by about 15 percent, among the older age groups (from 50 to 54 and from 55 to 59 years old), while for example, the rate of reduction among people between the ages of 25 and 29 years stood at 6.4%.

If employment trends are observed by level of education, in annual comparisons held in Croatian unemployment records, there are more unemployed people, and that’s only slightly, only among those without school diplomas and among those who didn’t complete elementary school, and the largest decrease has been recorded among those with a university education (more precisely a decrease of 12.6%) .

Likewise, out of a total of 21 counties, only three of them (Varazdin County, Medjimurje County and Virovitica-Podravina County) had more people registered as unemployed back at the end of last month than they did one year before, and the institute recorded the biggest relative decline in Vukovar-Srijem (by almost 20%) and in Lika-Senj County (-17%).

Back during February, 11,000 people registered with the CES unemployment register, or ten percent less than in the same month last year, and at the same time, 21% more, or about 15,400 people, left it. The majority of them left that status due to gaining employment. In that group, the largest number of people were employed in public administration, trade, processing industry and the tourism, hospitality and catering sector.

Based on other business activities, more than 460 people left the records of the enemployed last month. In the case of more than half of them, the reason was starting their own business by registering a trade or freelance profession, a fifth of them founded a company, and a quarter of them had their status terminated because they earn monthly income from another independent activity that exceeded the amounts of monetary benefits they’re entitled to from the state for the year 2022. In the case of the other slightly more than 4,000 persons, deletions from the unemployment register are the result of retirement, non-compliance with legal provisions, self-deregistration from the register, and so on.

For more, check our our news section.

The post Picture of Croatian Unemployment Records Staggered as Seasonal Job Hunt Begins appeared first on Total Croatia.

Irena Radic from Komiza is one of the sixty participants of the pottery and ceramics workshop. After thirty years of working in a store, she decided to take a different direction.

“It’s about retraining the production of souvenirs for our Komiza, today everything is focused on digital skills, but I think these skills should be developed as well,” she believes.

“People come to us – some because it’s just something they want to do for pleasure, but some people come because they want to take on new jobs. There are no rules when it comes to which genders approach us, and men and women come here,” said Sandra Sumic, the head of a pottery and ceramics workshop in Split.

Only 37 percent of adults regularly attend training, and the representative office of the European Commission in Croatia, in cooperation with the Europa Direct Centre in Split, pointed out the problem through the holding of various different workshops and lectures.

“The whole of Europe is facing a labour shortage, both with highly qualified and lower professional qualifications. Three quarters of employers in the EU are coping with difficulties in finding labour both in Croatia and elsewhere in Europe,” said the deputy head of the European Commission’s representation in Croatia, Andrea Covic Vidovic.

“The Croatian labour market is lacking in tourism and healthcare workers, and that’s why in the last two years, we have opened courses for nurses and we also have a competence centre,” said Blazenko Boban, the Prefect of Split-Dalmatia County.

Back in 2021, there was a shortage of workers on the Croatian labour market for as many as 28 professions!

“This issue spans the whole spectrum of occupations, from construction, personnel such as carpenters, masons… and on the other hand tourism workers, cooks, bartenders… That’s why we’re constantly organising retraining and training sessions,” said Marin Kanajet from the Croatian Employment Service’s (CES) regional office in the City of Split.

“We have an institution that deals with lifelong training. We’ll also strengthen this and we have to educate our people, not only the young, but also the elderly, because artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over jobs and that’s why they need to be retrained for something else,” said the mayor of Split, Ivica Puljak.

Undoubtedly, training and retraining are a big step in business across the European Union as a bloc, and these are issues which stretch far beyond the Croatian labor market.

For more, make sure to check out our news section.

The post Croatian Labour Market Severely Lacking Workers for 28 Professions appeared first on Total Croatia.

Negative demographic growth is a problem for most of Croatia, and it especially affects the islands. Dugi otok has a little more than 1,500 inhabitants, of which about 650 live in the Sali Municipality. The fee paid out by the powers that be for each newborn child was introduced back in 2017, and now amounts to slightly less than 8 thousand euros, according to a report from HRT.

The time spent by the youngest little islanders in the new kindergarten in Sali is also co-financed by the municipality, and money is also allocated for Christmas gifts and school workbooks. In short, allocations for children make up a large part of the local budget, which means a lot to their parents.

”Children get a better treatment, they can get access to better services, better food for babies, better strollers can be bought. It’s a big deal because everything is more expensive on the islands, so that money means a lot and goes a long way,” said Sebastijan Raljevic, the father of a one-year-old girl in Sali.

Another fact that is often forgotten is precisely what Sebastijan mentioned – that everything is more expensive for islanders, from basic food and hygiene items to fuel and building materials. In addition, everything that is taken for granted in the city, such as arranging extracurricular activities for the kids, becomes a real undertaking. However, there are quite a few children in the Sali Municipality, and their numbers are steadily on the up.

”When we look purely statistically, since 2017, more than ten children have been born in the Sali Municipality every year. If we look at the number of students attending the local primary school, in the eight classes there are, only three classes have ten or more children. I think the greatest importance of this support is to make life easier for both children and their parents and for them to stay at home here on the island, which is the goal of this measure, said Zoran Morovic, the mayor of the Sali Municipality.

As such, parents of two or more children receive already very large amounts from the local authorities, with the help of which they can start a business, or equip and modernise an existing one, which will make life on the island easier for adults and ensure a carefree childhood for the youngest residents.

For more, make sure to check out our news section.

The post Sali Municipality Offering Generous Incentives for Demographic Revival appeared first on Total Croatia.

The Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) has published data on the places where the most significant depopulation occurred from 2015 to 2020 and the most significant increase in the number of inhabitants

?‍?‍?Over the period 2015–2020, the rural region with the highest rates of depopulation in the EU was:
?? Vukovarsko-srijemska županija (-2.5% per year)

The rural region with the highest population growth:
?? Ikaria, Samos (+2.8% per year)

?https://t.co/Q4YgBSsA3Q pic.twitter.com/aNR0P9nZlg

— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) January 17, 2023

The Vukovar Srijem County has had the highest rate of population emigration in the European Union, amounting to -2.5% per year. On the other hand, the Greek island of Ikaria recorded the highest increase of 2.8% per year.

Recall, after the final results of the population census were finally released last year, there was a decrease in the number of inhabitants in the Vukovar-Srijem County compared to 2011. The county lost 35,083 inhabitants (a drop of 19.54 percent), and there are 13.6 percent fewer residents of Vukovar.

Požega Slavonia County ranks second in the EU in terms of emigration rate, with it being -2. From 2015 to 2020, Osijek-Baranja County recorded an emigration rate of -1.7%. Brod-Posavina recorded -2.1%, and Virovitica-Podravina -2.1%. The Sisak-Moslavina County is also ranking quite high (or low) with -2.1%, while all other Croatian counties recorded a much lower rate of emigration, around -1% or less. The City of Zagreb, on the other hand, has seen a positive change of 0.2%.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.

The post Slavonia Full of Heartbreak: Demographic Decline of Vukovar-Srijem County appeared first on Total Croatia.