The number of employed persons is at the record low, while the emigration is at the record high.
In June, the number of unemployed people registered at the Croatian Employment Service was 169,188, while last year it stood at 219,491, which means there are 50,000 people less registered as unemployed. Prime Minister Andrej Plenković likes to brag about the numbers. However, it is quite clear that there are no new 50,000 jobs which have been opened in Croatia, but rather that 50,000 people have moved from Croatia to countries such as Ireland, Germany, and other nations where Croats are regularly looking for jobs, reports Index.hr on 12 July 2017.
According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, about 20,000 people left Croatia in 2016, but demographers believe that the real number is three times higher.
This is further proven by the latest statistics released on Tuesday by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden in Germany. A total of 55,970 people came from Croatia to Germany in 2016, while in the same period 22,010 Croatian citizens moved out of Germany. At the end of 2016, there were 332,605 citizens of the Republic of Croatia living in Germany.
The latest statistics show that the rise in the number of immigrants from Croatia started after Croatia became a member of the European Union.
At the end of 2012, there were 224,971 citizens of the Republic of Croatia registered in Germany. A year later, at the end of 2013, the number had increased to 240,543, and at the end of 2014 to 263,347. At the end of 2015, there were 297,895 Croatian citizens living in Germany.
Of the 55,970 Croatian citizens who reported their stay in Germany during 2016, 48,080 did it for the first time, while 6,165 Croatian immigrants used to have registered residence in the country before. The same data show that 74,620 German residents with a Croatian passport have been living there for less than four years.
The largest number of Croatian citizens lives in the federal province of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
In 2016, German citizenship was received by 2,985 Croatian citizens.
