ZAGREB, March 16, 2020 - In the 2017/2018 wine-making year in Croatia, the average wine consumption per capita was 22 litres, the same as in the previous year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) data.

The total production of wine in 2018 was 726,000 hectolitres, and wines with protected designation of origin accounted for the majority of the total production (470,000 hectolitres, 64.8%).

Varietal wines account for 4.1% of the total production, and other wines for 31.1%.

The DZS data show that the total wine export in the 2017/2018 wine-making year was 232,900 hectolitres, while the initial stock was 712,800 hectolitres.

Total domestic wine consumption in the 2017/2018 wine-making year was 984,700 hectolitres, and other wines accounted for the largest part in the total consumption (468,000 hectolitres, 47.6%). The degree of self-sufficiency, that is, the ratio of production and total domestic consumption of wine, was 74%.

More wine news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, March 12, 2020 - Croatia, along with Luxembourg and Lithuania, in January 2020 recorded the greatest fall among EU member states in industrial production on the year, the European statistical office reported on Thursday.

In January 2020, seasonally adjusted industrial production in the EU27 decreased by 1.5% after revised figures showed that production in December 2019 fell by 3.5%.

The greatest increase in production in January 2020 on the year was recorded in consumer goods (+2.6%).

The biggest decrease in production in the EU27 was in the energy sector (-5.8%).

The highest increases in seasonally adjusted production in January 2020 were observed in Malta (+8.1%), followed by Poland (+3.4%) and Hungary (+2.7%).

The biggest drop in production year on year was recorded in Luxembourg (-9.2%), followed by Croatia (-5.5%) and Lithuania (-4.5%).

Industrial production in December 2020 in Croatia fell by 2.2% year on year.

Compared with December 2019, seasonally adjusted industrial production in the EU27 increased by 2% in January 2020.

In Croatia seasonally adjusted production in January 2020 increased mildly on the month (+0.6%) after falling by 1.6% in December 2019 m-o-m.

More economy news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, March 11, 2020 - In January 2020, as compared to January 2019, retail trade turnover was 6.2% higher in real terms, which was the highest annual increase since February 2019, when it increased by 8.7%, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

In January 2020, the total seasonally and working-day adjusted retail trade turnover was 2.7% higher than in December 2019 in real terms.

The real retail trade turnover has been growing since June 2019. In December 2019, the annual growth was 4.5%.

In January 2020, as compared to the same month of the previous year, retail trade turnover of food, beverages and tobacco increased by 4.3% and of non-food products (except of automotive fuels and lubricants) by 8%.

All trade branches realised a growth and the total gross retail trade turnover increased by 8.4% in nominal terms, as compared to January 2019.

The largest impact on the growth in the nominal turnover in January 2020, as compared to January 2019, according to unadjusted indices, was realised by non-specialised stores with food, beverages and tobacco with a growth of 7.9% in turnover as well as automotive fuels and lubricants recording a growth in turnover of 13.1%.

Raiffeisenbank Austria analysts say the latest data reflect the higher optimism in trade registered at the end of 2019. Moderate inflation, favourable conditions on the labour market and a high inclination to consumption have confirmed expectations that retail trade would have solid results in January 2020, they add.

They expect retail trade trends to remain favourable in Q1, while in the continuation of the year, notably in Q2, they expect it to be affected by the uncertainties and fears over coronavirus and its impact, notably on tourism turnover.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, March 11, 2020 - The pace of hiring in the European Union accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2019 both on the quarter and on the year, with the same trend being recorded in Croatia, Eurostat said in its revised estimate on Tuesday.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, the number of employed persons in the 27-member bloc rose by 0.3% from the previous quarter, following an increase of 0.1% in the third quarter. This raised the initial estimate for last year's final quarter by 0.1 percentage point.

Year-on-year, the number of employed persons increased by 1%, which is 0.1 percentage point more than Eurostat's February estimate. In the third quarter, the number of employed persons went up by 0.9%.

In Croatia the number of employed persons in Q4 increased by 0.7% on the quarter. Compared with an increase of 0.5% in the third quarter, this points to a slightly accelerated pace of hiring. On an annual level, it rose by 1.9% in the fourth quarter after going up 0.9% in the third quarter.

In 2019, the number of employed persons in the EU went up by 1%, following a 1.4% increase in 2018.

In the fourth quarter, a total of 209.3 million citizens were employed in the EU, which is the highest number of employed persons since Eurostat started publishing data. It is by 15.1 million higher than the lowest number of employed persons in the EU recorded in the post-crisis period in Q1 2013.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, March 10, 2020 - Croatia's commodity exports in January 2020 totalled HRK 8.3 billion, up by 0.4% compared to January 2019, while the imports rose 1.3% to HRK 14 billion, according to provisional data provided by the national statistical office (DZS) on Tuesday.

As a result, the country's foreign trade deficit was HRK 5.7 billion, which is by 154.3 million kuna more than in January 2019.

The coverage of imports by exports went from 59.9% to 59.4%.

Croatia's exports to other EU member-states rose by 3.6% to over six billion kuna on the year.

On the other hand, exports to non-EU members fell 7.2% to HRK 2.3 billion.

The imports from EU members increased 1.3% to HRK 11.5 billion, and from non-EU members by 1.5% to HRK 2.6 billion.

Expressed in euros, Croatia's commodity exports in January 2020 totalled €1.1 billion, down 0.2% on the year, while imports went up 0.8% to €1.9 billion.

The foreign trade deficit was €765.7 million, as against €748.8 million in January 2019.

The latest data on exports and imports in the whole of 2019, show that Croatia's commodity exports in 2019 totalled HRK 114.2 billion, up 5.8% on the year, while imports reached HRK 184.3 billion, an increase of 4.6%.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, February 28, 2020 - A total of 19.5 million tourists stayed in commercial accommodation in Croatia in 2019, an increase of 5% compared with 2018, while the number of overnight stays rose by 2% to 91.2 million, the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) said on Friday.

A total of 2.2 million domestic tourists stayed in commercial accommodation, up by 9.4%, and generated 7.1 million overnight stays, nearly 10% more than in 2018.

Croatian tourists were the second largest group to stay in commercial accommodation, behind Germans, whose number reached 2.9 million, up 3.5%. German tourists generated by far the largest number of overnight stays - 20 million, which is a slight decline in relation to 2018. They were followed by Slovenians, with 7.5 million overnight stays (+3.1%), while Austrians were the fourth largest group, with 7.05 million overnight stays, down by 0.1% from 2018.

Foreign tourists, who came from over 80 countries from around the world, accounted for about 90% of all stays in commercial accommodation, with 17.3 million arrivals (+4.3%) and 84.12 million overnight stays (+1.2%).

Broken down by type of accommodation, the largest number of overnight stays, namely 44.5 million, was generated in various types of private accommodation, which was an increase of 2.6% over 2018. Hotels recorded 20.7 million overnight stays (+1.6%) and campsites 18.2 million (-0.6%).

More tourism news can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, February 14, 2020 - Figures presented by the national statistical office (DZS) show a decline in the number of newlyweds in Croatia over the past decade.

For instance, in 2009, there were 22,382 new marriages registered in Croatia while in 2018, a total of 19,921 couples got married.

A record low number of newlywed couples, 19,169, was registered in 2013, the DZS says in a press release issued on Friday, when Valentine's Day was observed.

Broken down by county, some regions are in the lead when measured by the number of new marriages relative to the population.

Thus, the highest wedding rate relative to the population in 2018 was in Požega-Slavonia County and Slavonski Brod-Posavina County with 6.1 newlyweds per 1,000 in each of them, and they were followed by another eastern Croatian county, Vukovar-Srijem, with 5.9.

On the other hand, in Istria there were only 3.8 newlywed couples per 1,000 inhabitants in 2018.

Also, the trend in wedding ceremonies is tilting towards civil ceremonies. For instance, in 2009, as many as 63.5% of newlyweds got married in church and 36.5% had a civil ceremony. In 2018, the number of civil ceremonies skyrocketed to 49.9%, the DZS says.

The Public Administration Ministry says that in 2018, a total of 55 life partnerships were concluded.

Statistical figures show that in 2018, the largest number of wedding ceremonies were performed in September.

The average age of brides was 28.7 years while the average age of bridegrooms reached 31.3 years.

In Croatia, the average age difference between the groom and the bride is three years.

In 2009, there were 5,076 divorces, however, a record high number of 7,036 couples decided to terminate their marital status in 2016.

In 2018, there were 6,125 cases of dissolution of a marital union, and the couples who got divorced that year had lived together in a marital union for 14.9 years on average.

More lifestyle news can be found in the dedicated section.

ZAGREB, February 7, 2020 - Croatia's commodity exports in 2019 totalled 114.1 billion kuna, up 5.7% on the year, while imports reached HRK 184 billion, an increase of 4.4%, the national statistical office said on Friday.

The foreign trade deficit was 70 billion kuna, 1.66 billion kuna higher than in 2018. The coverage of imports by exports increased from 61.2% to 62%.

In 2019, commodity exports to EU countries totalled 78.3 billion kuna, up 5.6% on the year, while exports to non-EU countries went up 6% to 35.75 billion kuna.

Commodity imports from EU countries went up 7.4% to 147.8 billion kuna, while those from non-EU countries dropped 6.1% to 36.2 billion kuna.

Expressed in euros, Croatia's commodity exports in 2019 totalled €15.4 billion, up 5.8% on the year, while imports went up 4.5% to €24.8 billion. The foreign trade deficit was €9.4 billion, up from €9.2 billion in 2018.

Commodity exports to EU countries stood at €10.6 billion (+5.6%), while those to non-EU countries were €4.8 billion (+6%). Commodity import from EU countries were €20 billion (+7.5%), while those from non-EU countries were €4.9 billion (-6.1%).

More economy news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, February 6, 2020 - Nearly 65% of Croatians are inclined to alternatives to vehicles powered by petroleum fuels, but are not too keen on the idea of car sharing, a survey by tyre manufacturer Goodyear shows.

Goodyear has conducted an online poll in Slovenia and Croatia using the Facebook application Messenger to find out what people think about mobility in the future. The survey covered 1,794 Croatians and 962 Slovenians; it was held between 24 October and 24 November 2019 in Croatia and between 15 November and 16 December in Slovenia.

The survey found that Croatians are inclined to alternatives to classic vehicles powered by petroleum fuels as 34% of respondents said they would opt for electric vehicles, 31% would choose hybrids and 35% preferred petrol cars.

On the other hand, those interviewed were far less thrilled about the idea of car sharing. If they could choose between their own car, a high-speed train and car sharing, only 13% said they would opt for the latter, while a vast majority (76%) would choose their own vehicle.

The survey also found that nearly 80% of respondents in Croatia believe that passenger vehicles will be able to fly in the future.

The survey did not show any significant differences in responses between Croatians and Slovenians. The greatest difference was noticed in the view on electric vehicles as 50% of Slovenians would choose them, 32% would opt for hybrid vehicles and only 17.5% preferred petrol vehicles.

More car industry news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, February 3, 2020 - Almost all young people in Croatia own a smartphone, they are politically neutral, most of them still live with parents, and are mostly concerned about the environment, poverty and terrorism, according to a survey conducted by the Hendal market research agency among 500 young people aged from 16 to 30.

"The survey shows that 57% of respondents still live with their parents and one in three lives with a partner. Most of them plan to get married and have children: 50% of those interviewed say that they will almost certainly or probably do so, while 13% of them are already married; 70% plan to have children, and 9% already have children," the agency reports.

When shopping, 57% of young people consider brands to be of medium importance, while 23% give them considerable importance. A third of them know which brand they will buy before shopping. They mostly get information about products from their families and friends.

One in three respondents shops online and 59% do so periodically. The most popular online shopping site is eBay, where they mostly shop for clothes and electronics.

Around 70% of young people say that they are mostly or completely financially self-sufficient, and their main source of financial information is banks. 59% of respodents do not own real estate, and 39% save money on a regular basis.

Half of young people watch television on a daily basis, and almost all of them have a smartphone, which they use more than 3 hours a day, while a third of them use their smartphones for more than 6 hours a day, mostly as a means of communication.

The most popular social network is Facebook, and 27% of young people follow influencers from the domestic scene, with Ella Dvornik and Andrea Andrassy being the most popular.

Young people spend most of their free time with their parents, and 42% of them cook often. The most popular hobbies include various sports activities, in which 43% of young people engage. They read 10 books a year on average.

As for music, 50% say they listen to pop music, 44% listen to rock, and 39% to turbo-folk music. Petar Grašo is the most liked domestic musician, and Luka Modrić the most popular domestic athlete.

Almost 57% of young people travelled within the last three months, and mostly in Europe (Austria, Slovenia, Italy). The most popular Croatian destination was Zagreb.

"Over 90% of young people eat a cooked meal every day, and they in general eat food prepared at home more often. Young people mostly care for their health, and they trust doctors the most when it comes to health. They sleep 7 hours on average," Hendal says.

53% of young people are employed, and they are mostly satisfied with their job, 12% are unemployed and looking for work, 19% are in college, and 13% work and study.

"Around 60% of young people say that they are considering starting their own business. When asked if they would move to a different country for work, 33% said that they possibly would, 19% answered that they probably would, and 14% said that they definitely would," the agency found.

Only 50% of young people always vote, and 46% of them are politically neutral. 92% of young people are not members of any political party, and 95% are not members of trade unions. They place little trust in institutions and are neutral about the military, the EU, the police, and NATO.

As for global issues, 47% say they are concerned about poverty, 40% about terrorism, 37% about pollution, and 31% about global warming.

More lifestyle news can be found in the dedicated section.