53 MARTINDALE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISE dard units, which adjust for price differences across countries, at 9.4 units, compared to fourth highest, Germany, at 17.3 units (Eurostat, 2026), illustrating that out-migration is driven by young and highly educated workers, as job opportunities and wages abroad are more appealing than those of the same jobs in Croatia (European Employment Services, 2025). There has been a recent increase in the number of citizens immigrating back to Croatia (Strategija Demografske…, 2024). Specifically, in 2020, 8460 of international immigrants to Croatia were Croatian citizens versus 13,290 in 2024 (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2025b). To continue growing this movement and address gaps created by over a decade of emigration, pathways to return must be complemented by incentives that address the reasons emigrants left. Over this same period, most immigrants to Croatia have also come from Europe, accounting for an estimated 299,000 out of more than 393,000 total immigrants (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2025a). Historically, immigration to Croatia has been dominated by nearby Western Balkan countries (World Bank Group, 2025), with Bosnia and Herzegovina accounting for the highest number of immigrants, 86,932 people from 2013 to 2024 (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2025a). However, trends shifted in recent years. In 2024, the number of work permits issued to workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina slowed, compared to the increase of permits issued to workers from Serbia, Nepal, India, and North Macedonia. The fastest-growing group of immigrants is foreign-born workers from Asia, primarily Nepal, India, the Philippines, and Bangladesh. In contrast to the rest of the EU, Croatia had the largest share of permits for employment, issued for about 90% of its foreign-born population. Work opportunities are a clear incentive for immigration to Croatia: In 2023, work permits were issued for foreign born workers in construction (40%), tourism and hospitality (27%), and manufacturing (14%) (World Bank Group, 2025). Given its recent increase, immigration can play an important role in responding to population shifts (World Bank Group, 2025), as long as Croatia sees immigration as part of an enduring solution, rather than a way to fulfill near-term labor demands. Regional migration and labor market implications Although these trends are occurring on a national scale, regional differences are important to consider. Figure 2 shows net international migration for Croatia’s four regions. The Pannonian region saw the largest negative net international migration in 2017 has since seen a more balanced trend, closer to net zero. The Adriatic and Northern regions had a smaller net negative migration, but net migration has grown in recent years. The City of Zagreb has had fairly stable net migration and increased in recent years as well. The Adriatic has experienced an especially large positive change in net migration since Figure 1 Emigration and immigration trends in Croatia, 2014–2024 Sources: Eurostat, 2022a, 2022b.
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