October 7, 2020 – This year’s selection of the best Croatian cities has entered the finals and the announcement of the winners is expected at the end of this month.
We can all agree that each Croatian city has its uniqueness and is beautiful in its way. If there was a competition to pick the most beautiful Croatian city, it would be too hard to choose.
But if you consider competing categories such as quality of life, economy, education, and demographic policy, and withdrawal of money from EU funds, the picture is different.
According to Gradonačelnik.hr, out of 28 selected Croatian cities that are competing, only one big, medium, and small-sized city will be named as the best in each of these four categories, except for the EU funds. In that category, only one prize will be awarded, regardless of the size of the city.
Therefore, the epithets of the best will be taken by a total of 10 Croatian cities.
Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County have the biggest chances
Croatia counts as many as 128 cities, out of which only 28 have entered the final evaluation and selection of the best.
Some of the 28 finalists in four different categories which have more than one nomination are Čakovec, Samobor, Varaždin, Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Sveta Nedjelja, Umag, Poreč, Hvar, Mali Lošinj, Novalja, Novigrad, Krk. A list of all nominated cities by all categories, as well as all other information is available on the organizers’ websites.
Interestingly, the best results in this competition were made by Rovinj, Poreč, and Krk, entering the finals in three categories, in terms of quality of life, economic achievements, and the standard they provide to their residents in education and demographic policy.
If we look at the most represented counties in the final of this election, the absolute leader is Istria County with eight cities and 14 ‘nominations’ in the final election.
Only Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, with six cities and nine candidacies, and Zagreb County, from which four candidate cities and six ‘nominations’ for the best come, are keeping pace with Istria.
Also, Istria and Kvarner were last year’s big winners. The best small town in terms of economic status and quality of life was Krk, Pula was the best big city in terms of economy, and Poreč was a medium-sized city with the best quality of life. In the category of education and demography, the cities of Pazin, Labin, and Cres stood out.
Many of them are nominated again this year and are defending last year’s title.
Difficult criteria
The competition is organized by Jutarnji List, Gradonačelnik.hr, and the Ipsos agency. Their idea is to present to the general public the best solutions of our cities in ensuring a quality of life worthy of modern European and world standards.
Research and evaluation are very extensive, as evidenced by the fact that in the most prestigious category – that of the best cities in terms of quality of life – as many as 26 different criteria are included in the corresponding calculation.
Some of them are the average per capita income, the share of environmental allocations in the budget, the share of allocations for subsidizing the price of transportation in the budget, and the population aging index.
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