Stats reveal a mini baby boom in Croatia

4 March 2019 – The latest birth statistics in Croatia suggest something of a mini baby boom in the country. 

After a trend of declining births, the number of registered births in the country is up. According to data from the Ministry of Public Administration, there were 35,905 babies registered in the birth registry in Croatia in 2018, this is 791 more than in 2017. 

Out of the total number of births, there were 18,562 boys and 17,343 girls born last year. 

“The data confirms research which we done in January which shows that in 2018 a kind of a mini baby boom. Our data shows that last year in Croatia there were 791 more babies born in Croatia than in 2017,” Gradonačelnik.hr said. 

“Not all babies are registered in the birth registry in Croatia, for example there are foreigners or citizens who live in Bosnia and Herzegovina whose babies are registered there despite being born in Croatia.” 

The biggest increase in births was recorded in Zagreb with 536 more babies born in 2018 than the year previous. 

Next was Split with 204 more babies born than in 2017. Bjelovar was next with 60 more babies born, followed by Virovitica, Metković, Pula, Zabok, Čakovec, Varaždin, Zadar and Knin which all saw the number of newborns increase.

The places which saw a drop in the number of babies born include Dubrovnik, which recorded 52 fewer babies in 2018, Šibenik (24) and Sinj (10). 

The most babies in 2018 were born in Zagreb (11,858), followed by the Split-Dalmatia County (4,359), Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (2,403), Osijek-Baranja (2,319), and Zadar County (1,474).