Data show that continental Croatia has a higher rate of poverty than Adriatic Croatia.
Results of poverty estimates for small geographic areas indicate heterogeneity of poverty in Croatia, with the poverty rate in continental region at 19.4 percent, and in the Adriatic region at 12.6 percent, it was announced on Monday at the presentation of the map of poverty which shows spatial distribution of poverty and social exclusion in Croatia, reports Večernji List on October 17, 2016.
Detailed maps were drafted by the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Policy and Youth, the Central Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank, to assist policy makers in understanding the spatial distribution of poverty, especially at the level of municipalities and towns.
Maps were prepared according to the income and expenditure criteria for sub-national areas and are based on detailed information about the spatial distribution of poverty. They will serve as an aid in policy making for reducing regional disparities and eradication of poverty and social exclusion in Croatia. The director of the Central Bureau of Statistics Marko Krištof said that the results of the research could not be compared with results of other studies of poverty. However, differences between the results obtained at national level are not significant.
According to the income criteria, the estimated risk of poverty in Croatia in 2011 stood at 19.2 percent, which means that about 803,000 people had the annual income which was lower than 24,000 kuna, which was the threshold of risk of poverty for a single-member household. The lowest estimates of the poverty risk were recorded in Zagreb (9.8 percent) Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and Istria Couty (11.9 percent), while the highest were in Brod-Posavina County (35.9 percent), Virovitica-Podravina County (33.4 percent) and Vukovar-Srijem County (31.9 percent).
According to the expenditure criteria, the estimated risk of poverty in Croatia in 2011 was 17.1 percent, which means that about 717,000 people had the annual expenditures of less than 23,919 kuna. The lowest estimate of the poverty risk were recorded in Zagreb (5.9 percent) and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (9.1 percent), and the highest in Požega-Slavonia County (32.5 percent), Brod-Posavina County (33.9 percent) and Karlovac County (34.3 percent).
“By determining the relative and absolute poverty rates for small areas and using the index of multiple deprivation, in addition to determining the territorial distribution of the population which is at risk of poverty, we have also created conditions for additional allocation of funds from European structural and investment funds”, said Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds Tomislav Tolušić. Deputy Minister of Social Policy and Youth Ante Babić said that the poor were mostly elderly and disabled people, and families with several dependents.
The maps can be accessed here.
