43,219 people came to live & work in Croatia last year

4 February 2019 – In 2018, a total of 43,219 people moved to live and work in Croatia, which is almost three times more than in 2016, daily Večernji list reported on Monday. 

Out of the more than 43,000 foreigners who were granted temporary residence in Croatia last year, 31,000 of them arrived from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo. Permanent residency was granted to 1,448 foreigners last year.

According to data Večernji list obtained from the Ministry of Interior, 2,064 people from the total to arrive had higher education qualifications.  

With regards to temporary residents, 28,000 of the total to arrive were under the age of 39. The data excluded those on the asylum-seekers list. 

“The largest number of arrivals were seasonal workers, who arrived because of the opening up of the labour market which can be seen by the large number of those under 40 arriving. Agriculture, tourism and construction, which are key sectors here, attract lower qualifications. It is expected that workers came from neighbouring countries because they will not come here from wealthier nations,” demographist Stjepan Šterc said. 

The largest number of people granted temporary residence were citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (19,560), followed by Serbia (6,354). Between 200 and 900 people came from the following nations inside the EU; Slovenia, Germany, Italy, Poland, the UK, France, Austria, Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic.  

Outside the EU, the most temporary resident permits were issued to people from China (574), USA (497), Russia (413), India (220), the Philippines (156), Mexico (143), Korea (135), Thailand (132) and Brazil (126).

Increase in descendants of Croatian emigrants obtaining citizenship

Permanent residency was granted to 1,448 foreigners last year, with the most from Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Italy, Russia, the UK and Macedonia. 

There has also been an increase in the number of descendants of Croatian emigrants from abroad gaining Croatian citizenship. Last year, 1,005 people, mostly from South America, Australia and USA, obtained Croatian citizenship.