Names of mostly young people who went abroad in search for jobs are written on tiles of a bus station in Imotski, Southern Croatia. Youth unemployment rates went down from a record level of 50% in 2013 to 17% in 2019, and increased again to 22 % in 2020 because of the pandemic (EU27: 16%).

About the ILO in Croatia

Can a strong recovery cure the long-term ills of low economic diversification and a shrinking population?

The three decades since Croatia’s independence in 1991 were turbulent. The country experienced a dramatic 30 per cent drop of GDP because of the war in the 1990s. Croatia again was hit by an economic contraction because of the Great Recession. The unemployment rate doubled to 18 per cent in 2014 and the youth unemployment rate increased to a record high of almost 50 per cent (2013). EU membership in 2013 supported the robust and broad-based recovery. 

In 2020 Croatia was hit heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as two devastating earthquakes, causing real GDP to fall by 8.1 per cent. Nevertheless, the country's economy showed a strong recovery. Mostly supported by an outstanding performance of the tourism sector and robust consumer spending, Croatia’s real GDP expanded by 10 per cent in 2021, and 6 per cent in 2022.   Continue reading