ZAGREB, 13 March 2021- During 2020, Vinkovci had 289 newborn babies, or 32 more than in 2019, the mayor of this eastern Croatian city, Ivan Bosančić told Hina recently.

This rise of 11% ranks Vinkovci on the second place after Osijek in terms of the growth in births in 2020, said the mayor, ascribing those developments to the local authorities' population policy.

In the last four years, the city administration has allocated HRK 1.9 million for baby support grants.

Also, HRK 40.4 million has been set aside to co-fund pre-school institutions, 4.8 million kuna has been invested in providing equal social conditions, and HRK 7.2 million for scholarships.

Bosančić of the HDZ party notes that currently 321 students receive city scholarships, or twice as many as in 2017.

Since 2017, 13 playground facilities have been built or rebuilt and some other sports utilities have been upgraded in this eastern city.

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February 20, 2020 - Sometimes you read a title and you're certain it's a typo, and it turns out it was not. That's what happened to me when I read a title saying that 15 babies were born during a single night of a baby boom in a Zagreb hospital.

On average, the maternity ward at the Merkur Clinical Hospital welcomes around seven babies a day. However, in one night (this past Thursday to Friday night) 15 babies were born, more than twice the usual daily number.

The doctors and the midwives and other staff at the hospital are, of course, quite tired after such a busy night, but they were ready to share some of the stories with the media. 24sata.hr writes about the eight little girls and 7 boys that were born, quoting Žana Žegarac, a OB-GYN from the hospital, who said that the hospital has enough capacity to house the mothers and the newborns for the time being.

The head midwife of the hospital, Silvija Virt, thinks that the staff at the maternity ward has some super-powers, which allow them to flawlessly manage every situation that occurs. Having that many births in one night was most certainly a challenge, but it was one that was successfully tackled, and everyone at the hospital is happy that the mothers and the babies are doing well.

Dr. Žegarac added that the number of births in the hospital is constantly on the rise, and this one night will feature prominently in any statistics.

The Croatian demographic crisis is continuing to bite and its grip is becoming tighter in many areas, with the labour force being one of the most pressing issues caused by the country's increasingly poor demographic outlook. Still, in some areas, such as Novigrad Podravski in continental Croatia, more babies are being born as demographic measures are employed in hope of persuading families to stay.

As Novac writes on the 14th of January, 2020, the municipality of Novigrad Podravski finally welcomed a real ''baby boom'' in 2019 after years of extremely poor demographics. Given the Croatian demographic crisis which has spread far from the region of Slavonia, where there have been major issues for a long time, to the rest of the country, Novigrad Podravski's Zdravko Brljek has reason to be pleased.

As was announced on the municipality's website, a total of 165,000 kuna was paid out to parents residing in the municipality for the births of their newborn children in 2019, local portal Podravski reports.

Since the individual amount per child is 5,000 kuna, it can be seen that the money had been paid out to the parents of 33 newborns, two of whom are twins.

''I'm pleased that we were financially able to pay 5,000 kuna per child to parents within less than five working days of the request having been received,'' said Brljek.

He also recalled the fact that in a local primary school in Novigrad Podravski, fifteen students enrolled in the first grade back in 2016, fifteen students enrolled in 2017, a further fifteen students enrolled in 2018, and then nineteen students enrolled last year.

''This year has greatly improved the municipal demographic. I hope that most of these young people will stay in our municipality and that as many young people as possible come back here or move here,'' Brljek concluded.

Unfortunately, the demographic picture regarding newborns in Koprivnica-Križevci County, in which Novigrad Podravski is situated, is otherwise not so positive and reflects the overall Croatian demographic crisis accurately.

Namely, in 2019, according to data from the aforementioned county, 866 children were born, which is fifteen less than one year before when 881 children were born. Thus, the positive trend that started in 2018 compared to 2017 when 860 children were born came to a halt once again.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more on the Croatian demographic crisis.

June 1, 2018 — There are several ways to solve Croatia's demographic crisis. Some municipalities are banking on paying for procreation.

In times of massive emigration and demographic crisis, it’s nice to hear a positive story about a blooming community