March the 22nd, 2025 – Croatia’s demographic picture has never been fantastic, but it’s growing worse than ever. According to estimates, Croatia might need a massive 500,000 foreign workers by 2030.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, if the economic and demographic trends continue in the way they are, Croatia and its economy will be short of 450,000 to 500,000 foreign workers in the next five years, more specifically by 2030. If we don’t want parallel societies to occur, Croatia very urgently needs to work on the proper integration of these foreign workers into the local community, it was said at the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) conference EDUkarijera – Education to the Profession of the Future.
Advisor to the President of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, Petar Mišević, stated that it is extremely important that educational programmes are adapted, altered and revised to keep up with the needs of the labour market. Croatia must have well-designed educational policies and new policies in the field of accepting foreign workers, given that the majority of foreigners currently working in Croatia come not only from Southeastern Europe but also from distant Asian nations.
“The integration of these foreign workers requires broad cooperation not only between employers and state institutions, but also local government and self-government units,” said Mišević.
Given demographic trends and the low natural increase expected in Croatia over the coming decades, the problem of labour shortage will remain a pressing issue. Mišević warned that the state needs to actually think about where to find and what kind of workers to bring to Croatia, and there is no room for improvisation.
