August the 20th, 2026 – Croatia is no longer near the European bottom in terms of annual leave affordability, but there are still serious issues with the overall standard of living.
At first glance the figure does not speak in favour of the standard of living in Croatia, however, the picture changes significantly when a longer period is looked at instead of a single year. This was pointed out by economist Ivica Brkljača and reported on by Edita Vlahovic Zuvela.
Almost a third of Croatian citizens over the age of 16 could not afford a week of annual leave outside their place of residence last year. According to the latest Eurostat data, 32.6 percent of the population were in this situation in 2025, placing Croatia seventh among European Union member states with the highest share of citizens for whom such a holiday is not financially accessible.
At first glance, this is a figure that does not speak in favour of the standard of living in Croatia. However, the picture changes significantly when a longer period is considered instead of a single year. Economic analyst Ivica Brkljača draws attention to precisely this, arguing that the 2025 figure should not be viewed in isolation. “The problem arises when this figure is observed in isolation, without the trend that shows how the affordability of annual leave has changed during the period of economic growth,” Brkljača stresses.
recession and recovery
In Croatia, this trend is particularly pronounced. In 2015 as many as 65.8 percent of the population could not afford a week of holiday away from home. Ten years later that share has almost halved, to 32.6 percent. This is an improvement of as much as 33.2 percentage points – the largest among all EU member states. For comparison, Cyprus follows with a drop of 25.9 percentage points, Ireland with 21.6, Bulgaria with 21.3 and Poland with 19.5 percentage points. Croatia’s position relative to the European average has also improved. In 2015 Croatia was the second-worst EU member state, right after Romania. The share of citizens who could not afford annual leave was then a full 30.6 percentage points higher than the EU average, Brkljača recalls. Last year Croatia was the seventh-worst EU member according to this indicator, while the gap to the European average has narrowed to 5.1 percentage points.
a lack of benefit equality
The biggest problem remains among the elderly and single people. Last year as many as 62.6 percent of people over 65 could not afford a week of holiday.
At the level of the entire European Union long-term progress is also visible. In 2015, 35.2 percent of the population could not afford a week of holiday away from home, while last year that share stood at 27.5 percent. Over ten years the share decreased in as many as 23 of the 27 member states, while increases were recorded only by Austria, Germany, Finland and Sweden. The enormous progress that has taken place in Croatia is further illustrated by Brkljača with data available since 2010, the first year for which figures exist for Croatia. The most difficult situation was in 2012, when as many as 71.4 percent of the population could not afford a week of holiday away from home. Very high shares persisted in the following years as well, and then, in parallel with the end of the prolonged recession and the start of economic recovery, almost continuous improvement followed.
Particularly interesting is the movement among households with dependent children. In 2012 as many as 71.3 percent of people from such households could not afford a week of holiday, and in 2015 the figure was 64 percent. Last year their share fell to 24.2 percent. Ten years ago almost two-thirds of such households could not finance a week of holiday, while today the figure is about a quarter.
croatia hasn’t yet reached the sort of living standard it should aspire to
One of the reasons for such pronounced improvement is probably the fact that it mainly concerns the working-age population, which has more directly felt the strong growth in employment and wages. However, economic growth has not affected all groups equally strongly. The biggest problem remains among the elderly and single people. Last year as many as 62.6 percent of people over 65 who live alone could not afford a week of holiday. Among women living alone that share was 57.9 percent, and among men 45 percent.
The number of children in the household is also not unimportant. Around 15 percent of households with one or two children cannot afford a week of holiday, while among those with three or more children the share rises to 33.1 percent. “The growth of GDP, wages and pensions has certainly been felt in the mentioned indicator, as well as in other indicators of the material position of households,” Brkljača concludes. This does not, of course, mean that Croatia has reached the level of living standard it should aspire to. But the trend is hard to ignore: over the past ten years Croatia has achieved the largest reduction in the share of the population that cannot afford a week of holiday among all EU member states.
prices and cost of living are the major determinants
Data from a survey conducted by Alma Career Croatia, the company that runs the MojPosao/MyJob portal, shows a somewhat more cautious picture for this year – more and more employees are planning shorter holidays, and the share of those who will not travel at all this summer is also rising. The share of employees who plan to use a maximum of seven days of annual leave has increased from 15 to 21 percent, while the share of those planning to rest for 21 days or longer has almost halved – from seven to only three percent.
The biggest change concerns those who do not plan to travel at all this summer. Their share has risen from 27 to 32 percent. In other words, almost every third respondent will not go on a summer holiday, primarily because of money. Among those who do not plan to travel, as many as 60 percent cite lack of money as the main reason, compared with 56 percent a year earlier.
Long-term Eurostat data also shows some major progress: the possibility of affording a week of holiday is significantly greater today than ten or fifteen years ago. However, the current survey of employees shows that prices and the cost of living still strongly determine how citizens will spend the summer. Croatia has therefore taken a big step forward, but the benefits of economic growth are not equally distributed. For some pensioners, single people and larger families, a holiday away from home remains a cost that is difficult to fit into the household budget.
