Croatia second highest share of citizens living abroad in the EU, new data reveals
- by croatiaweek
- in News
A new report from the European Parliament, based on Eurostat data, shows that Croatia is among the European Union countries with the highest share of citizens living abroad within the EU.
According to the data, 575,000 Croatians currently live in another EU member state, representing 14.9% of the country’s total population.
This makes Croatia the second-highest in the EU when measured by percentage of population, after Romania.
Romania tops the list, with 3.1 million citizens abroad, equal to 16.28% of its population. Bulgaria follows in third place, with 753,000 citizens abroad or 11.68% of its population.
Portugal and Luxembourg round out the top five.
At the other end of the scale, Germany, France, and Malta have the lowest share of their populations living elsewhere in the EU. Germany has 751,000 citizens abroad (0.9%), France 626,000 (0.9%), and Malta just 5,000 (0.9%).
Freedom comes in many shapes – including the freedom to travel and work across the EU 🇪🇺
— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) July 11, 2025
On #WorldPopulationDay, find out how many Europeans live in another EU country ↓ pic.twitter.com/yALHhB8T0u
Overall, smaller and newer EU member states in Eastern and Southern Europe record the largest proportions of citizens residing abroad, while larger Western countries show much lower percentages.
