According to the latest release by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics on the Labour Force in the Republic of Croatia in the third quarter of 2025, the Croatian labour market is recording positive trends with an increase in the number of employed persons and a decline in the survey unemployment rate.

Decline in unemployment

In the quarterly period from July to September 2025, it is estimated that there were 1.72 million employed persons in the Republic of Croatia. This represents an increase of 28 thousand persons, or 1.6%, compared with the third quarter of 2024.

At the same time, the number of unemployed persons in the same period amounted to 75 thousand, which is a significant decrease of 13 thousand, or 15.3%, compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

The employment rate for persons aged 15 to 64 was 69.4%, recording an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared with the third quarter of 2024. The highest employment rate was recorded in the City of Zagreb (75.7%), while the lowest was in Pannonian Croatia (62.7%).

The survey unemployment rate for persons aged 15 to 64 was 4.2%, which is a decrease of 0.8 percentage points compared with the same period last year. Regionally, the survey unemployment rate was the lowest in Northern Croatia (2.4%), and the highest in Pannonian Croatia (7.2%).

Structure of the working-age population

In the third quarter of 2025, the working-age population (persons aged 15 and over) in the Republic of Croatia amounted to 3.31 million inhabitants. Of that number, 1.79 million persons make up the active population (labour force), which includes the sum of employed and unemployed persons. The inactive population consists of 1.52 million persons.

According to the reasons for inactivity, the largest share of the inactive population, 1.09 million persons (71.8%), do not work due to old age, illness, education, and similar reasons. This is followed by 62 thousand persons (4.1%) who want to work but are not actively seeking a job. Furthermore, five thousand persons (0.4%) are seeking a job but cannot accept one in the next two weeks. The remaining 361 thousand persons (23.8%) are inactive persons aged 75 and over, whose reasons for inactivity are not examined in more detail methodologically.

These Labour Force Survey results are aligned with Eurostat methodology, making them comparable with the results of all European Union member states.