25 percent more Croatian citizens moved to the EU than the year before, writes Jutarnji list, stating that the outflow of population dropped sharply during the pandemic, but in 2022 reached the pre-pandemic level.

Last year was the first in the past 15 years in which, according to official statistics, the number of people who came to live in Croatia was greater than the number of those who moved away from Croatia. The difference, according to preliminary data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics published at the end of June, was significant – 57,972 people moved to Croatia, while 46,287 moved away from it.

However, an analysis of detailed migration data, which the Croatian Bureau of Statistics published recently, shows that the positive migration balance is primarily the result of the flight of Ukrainian citizens from Russian aggression, and that the emigration of Croatian citizens has not stopped, quite the contrary: the number of Croatian citizens who moved away from Croatia in 2022 was 26 percent higher than in the previous year, 2021, and the emigration trend returned to the level of the pre-pandemic year 2019.

Most people left for Germany

In concrete numbers, 32,739 Croatian citizens officially moved away from Croatia last year, while in 2021 that number was 25,950. Most, as expected, moved to other European Union countries, primarily Germany, to which almost half of all emigrants went (14,148).

The increase in those moving to EU countries compared to 2021 amounts to about 25 percent. In 2020, the first year of کرونا, the number of Croatian citizens who moved away was even lower and fell to the level of 2014 – the year after Croatia joined the European Union. The opening of borders encouraged a wave of emigration to wealthier countries, and the number of emigrants with Croatian citizenship grew dramatically year after year.

The record was set in 2017, when as many as 45,367 of its citizens left Croatia. And that according to official statistics data, which means that these are only those citizens who immediately deregistered their residence with the police and reported their move.

Statistical data on the arrival of Croatian citizens in other countries, primarily Germany, Austria and Ireland, showed that the actual number of emigrants was many times higher.

Source: index.hr