As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 13th of November, 2019, following the surge in Croatian nationals heading abroad, which has been and continues to be extensively monitored by the media, there is a growing trend of returning people who have experienced life and work for several years in Western Europe, yet decide to return home to Croatia and try their luck again here at home.

The fact that this trend of return doesn't solely regard people who have gone to Ireland to work in positions that don't require higher education is evidenced by the case of Dr. Delalle, a psychiatrist from Osijek who after three years in Ireland, decided to return home to a Croatian institution, more specifically to KBC Osijek.

According to Glas Slavonije, this doctor, who worked at the aforementioned Osijek hospital since 1986, and was head of child psychiatry at KBC Osijek from 2003 to 2015, says openly that the reason for her departure has never been dissatisfaction with the institution or system, but was solely because of family and financial reasons, and of course, the idea also came from a dose of professional curiosity.

''Within a month, I got a job at an Irish Government hospital, but it was a 45-minute bus and train ride and then another four miles on foot. All this is quite exhausting at my age, especially when you come from Osijek, where everything is at your fingertips,'' recalls Dr. Delalle when recalling some of the problems there.

This psychiatrist also worked for a while in the department for child and adolescent psychiatry in a public government hospital, and although she was initially very enthusiastic, disappointment with the system quickly followed.

In the end, she resigned from this institution, worked for a while in various other institutions, but nostalgia to return home to Croatia still prevailed.

''Financially, there were high incomes and as a psychiatrist you could earn about 5,000 euros a month there, but housing is very expensive and when you pay all the expenses, you're left with an only slightly higher income than you get in Croatia. For a doctor with scientific titles, length of service and on-call duty can also bring you a very nice income here.

It was interesting to go there, see it, experience it all, but I became nostalgic. I wanted to be close to my family and friends again, be where my home was. Thanks to the understanding of the director of KBC Osijek, I was given the opportunity to work at the Clinic for Psychiatry at KBC Osijek again.

''This is an experience that can enrich everyone, but in the end you see that despite all of Croatia's flaws, our system is still much more accessible, more professional, and significantly more empathetic to the needs of the patient,'' Dr. Delalle concluded.

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This praiseworthy project was initiated by the Croatian Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy, with registration set for spring 2020.

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 30th of October, 2019, depopulation and migration are a global demographic challenge to which an effective long-term incentive solution needs to be found that will make young people want to stay up, and at the same time improve family standards and raise the overall quality of life.

The Croatian Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy is actively working on the issue of demography, and their latest virtual Kid's Cards project will provide families and children with benefits and discounts on various types of goods and services.

This is the first such pro-natal measure on the national level in the European Union, which, which, regardless of the number of children and without any emphasis placed on income or membership fees, provides financial savings for families. Most EU member states offer some sort of family card to parents with three or more children, more specifically the Family 3+ Cards, which are also available here in Croatia with the payment of a pre-determined membership fee.

It's worth recalling that according to the latest census in Croatia, 112,830 families have three or more children in them, 319,658 families have two children, while 435,192 families have only one child, and discounts with the Kid's Card would be valid for everyone, and their benefits would hopefully increase with the number of children.

Since this is not a classic card, and the aforementioned ministry wants to contribute to the slow but steady digitalisation of Croatian society and provide additional online services to residents through this project, the virtual card will be available through an application (app), which will be registered with the registry of e-services on May the 1st, 2020.

APIS IT is responsible for the development and establishment of the Infrastructure for the Kid's Card information system, and Croatia's e-citizens infrastructure will be upgraded based on the contract. A request will be received using a Level 3 National Identification and Authentication System, and access to that means that only a token is required.

The ministry will complete the visual identity of the Kid's Cards by the end of the year, but full and high-quality implementation of the project requires the involvement of public and private sector partners, which includes national parks, sports clubs, cultural institutions, retail chains and other economic operators of various activities.

The ministry's main aim is to promote socially responsible business with the Kid's Card as a symbol of the social consensus of public and private partners in order to create a favourable and stimulating environment for families and young people within Croatia.

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As Novac/Marina Klepo writes on the 26th of October, 2019, in Croatia last year, the guaranteed minimum benefit (which is just a less understood name for social assistance) was received by 1.7 percent of the total population, the lowest share in the last 20 years and probably the lowest share of the population covered by this benefit in the EU.

The reason for the fall in the number and share of social assistance recipients is undoubtedly the large amount of emigration and indeed a certain degree of economic recovery in recent years. However, the figures on the share of recipients by city are perhaps the most forthcoming in showcasing the consequences of many years of unequal development of the state.

Croatia is spatially among the smaller European countries, but the differences between the regions - and often within the regions themselves - are quite incredible: in Knin, for example, 10 times more of the population receives social help than in Šibenik, a mere 50 kilometers away from the county seat, and it's almost 60 times higher than in Pag, Buzet or Korčula. On the island of Pag, 12 out of 5,396 residents receive social assistance, or 0.2 percent of the population. In Obrovac, however, with a population similar to Pag, 242, or 4.2 percent, are on social care, which equals to about 20 times more than in Pag.

Both cities fall under the same Social Welfare Centre in Zadar, a city where the recipient's share is equivalent to 0.6 percent of the population.

The analysis of the share of social assistance recipients clearly spatially divides the state: on the one hand there's the the coast and north of the country, on the other, the east and inland.

In the northern counties - Krapina-Zagorje, Zagreb, and Varaždin - the proportion of recipients in any covered area rarely, if at all, exceeds 1 percent of the population. It is important to note that the proportion of recipients does not refer solely to the territory of the aforementioned cities, but to the territory covered by the social welfare centre in that city, which usually involves a much wider area. This is also explained by the high share of recipients in Čakovec - more than 4 percent - because it also includes poorer Roma settlements.

The city of Knin still has the largest share of recipients, with every 9th inhabitant, or 11.7 percent of them, living on social welfare. Neither city is close to Knin as recipient: Topusko is second with 6.7 percent of recipients receiving this benefit.

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Going to work abroad seemed to be the only option, and one Croatian couple spent a year in Ireland but returned to their homeland, just like other people do, as they say.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of October, 2019, after 20 years in journalism, frustrated by a stressful job, low pay and an exhausting work pace, he decided to start a "new life" along with his wife.

But after just one year, they returned to Croatia. They only went to Ireland to make money to pay off their debts, Deutsche Welle writes.

"It was a very, very good experience. With the fact that I earned something, I gained something that is much more valuable - I lost the fear of existential problems. Because now I know I can go anywhere and live and work there. Nobody here can ever say to me, 'If you don't do it, there's someone who will work for the minimum wage'' again, I've learned to appreciate my time and my work.

I no longer care what I'll do if I lose my job, fail at a company or quit. It's an enormous burden taken from my shoulders. It is a release from the existential fear that most Croatian citizens live in. so I'd recommend everyone to go and try out their skills. If we all had that experience, then it would be a lot different here too,'' Soudil says as he begins the story.

"What was very important in making that decision was the fact that my then girlfriend and now wife was still out of work, so one day we sat down and talked. Many of our friends were already in Ireland. We got in touch with them and got information that we could make three to four times more over there than here. It was a big step, a big decision. You leave your parents, friends, your lifestyle and you're aware that you're going into the unknown and that your life will change completely. Honestly, that decision was not at all easy'' says Soudil.

"We were fortunate not to go to Dublin, we went to Letterkenny which is all the way north and is a small town. The size of the Đakovo, but much more urban and I won't say nicer, because there is nothing nicer to me than this here. I progressed in my work in just a few days. I worked for an agency that rents apartments and homes out and I can only say that I was valid and respected there, and paid properly for the work I did,'' Soudil says.

Immediately upon his arrival, he was offered to work four hours a day, but he refused because work and a better salary were the reasons why he left Croatia. As he says, his job was not demanding, and no one complained about his work ethic or the quality of his work.

"For the last four or five months, I've been doing another job because I realised that I could still make around 40 euros a day, and the money is welcome. It's easy when there are jobs and they treat you properly."

According to Soudil, having Croatian passport is a kind of job ''recommendation'' because the Croats are well known for being hardworking and responsible employees.

He says they repaid all of the debts they had Croatia off in just three months and even managed to buy a car on top of that.

"When we left, we didn't say: We're never returning to Croatia again. We went to see what it was like to make some money too, to cover the foreclosures and debts we had here. We had unpaid bills, foreclosures for parking, electricity... We paid back all the debts that we'd inevitably accumulated in Croatia in three months and we even bought a car,'' says Soudil.

He describes life in Ireland as extremely enjoyable and nice. He says it never happened that he was "missing one more paper" during administrative tasks, an all too common situation when dealing with Croatian state bodies. A person who has lived in Croatia and dealt with any sort of Croatian administration feels a sort of cultural shock when they're greeted kindly at the bank as if by their best friend, even though you're complete stranger, just getting off the plane, Soudil notes.

"At the age of nineteen, I started working in journalism, I was aware that I couldn't do that business there [in Ireland], but I lived in the belief that I didn't really know how to do anything else. My hobby when I was a journalist was a kind of woodworking, processing metal, electrical work... I learned this from the urgent need not to have to pay professionals to do those things and that it was enough for me to just be able to manage. I'm far from being a professional, but I realised that I could do a lot of other things,'' he explains.

He also says that nobody in Ireland ever asked him what school he graduated from and what kind of "papers" he has. Another shock for anyone who has done anything the dreaded Croatian way.

"It's important here if you have a certificate, there, what's important is whether or not you want to work. The employer is ready to invest in you to educate you at their own expense and give you the opportunity according to your abilities. In one whole year, nobody asked me for a diploma, a birth certificate or a certificate of impunity,'' Soudil tells Deutsche Welle.

Upon his return to Croatia he did well. He is now in a better-paying job that he is comfortable with, and as he says, if he ever begins to get sick of it again, he has a job waiting for him in Ireland.

"Ireland is great, but it has one drawback - it's far away. Anyone who works in Munich can spend almost every weekend in Osijek, which is a big deal when nostalgia grabs you,'' he says.

His wife Lea has a slightly different life story - she was born in Germany, lived in London and working in a foreign country is nothing strange to her.

"I found a job right away. I first worked as a maid, and as they saw I knew several foreign languages, they transferred me to the front desk," Lea says.

Despite the nostalgia, she does not regret engaging in the Irish experience. Because, she says, she tried a hundred things she had never had the opportunity to try, see, eat, do...

"With just three weeks of wages we bought a Mini Cooper, second-hand, but you couldn't even do that in your wildest dreams in Croatia. There are big differences in life here and there, but when everything is put on paper, it's still the best at home," concludes Lea.

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As Novac/Marina Klepo writes on the 16th of October, 2019, after Malta, Croatia has the highest rate of emigration in the whole of the European Union. 21.9 percent of the population to be more specific, which means that more than a fifth of the population born on Croatian territory live abroad.

This is followed by Portugal and Lithuania, countries in which 20 percent of the population born there have left. The latest World Bank report on "Migration and the brain drain in Europe and Central Asia" showcases this worrying data as it analyses the latest migration trends and offers countries recommendations on how to deal with them.

When asked what is the definition of an emigrant, and whether they include Croatian emigrants and Croatian citizens from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the World Bank explains that the figures are based on UN data collected from the statistical offices of destination countries.

''They will depend, for example, on how Germany collects data on immigrants,'' says Asli Demirguc-Kunt, World Bank chief economist for Europe and Central Asia. He added that most of the migrants' countries of choice, such as the United States outside of Europe and the United Kingdom inside it, have administrations which want to know the country of origin of these migrants, and therefore they state the country of their birth.

This probably means that the data for Croatia also covers expelled Serbs since the early 1990s. Neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, has seen as much as half of its population leave. Obviously, some of them immigrated to Croatia, which also has a high rate of immigrants relative to the total population, at 12.9 percent. In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania (30 percent) recorded large emigration, more than a fifth of Macedonians and Montenegrins live abroad, while for Serbia, it is estimated that there are 14 percent of them living abroad.

Today, Europe the destination of every third immigrant in the world. Economic migration, the report says, has helped immigrant countries address the problem of labour shortages and also improve the living standards of migrants. However, at the same time, it also poses a major problem to the countries from which people leave, especially when it comes to brain drain. Data shows that highly educated persons make up as much as 55 percent of the total number of expatriates from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and around 40 percent of those from Latvia, and about 40 percent from Albania, Macedonia, and Romania.

Although the Croatian brain drain from is slightly less, standing at about 27 percent, it's also worrying, especially when compared to other countries. In Hungary and the Czech Republic, the very highly educated make up less than 20 percent of the immigrant population.

One particularly significant impetus for population displacement is the lack of healthcare staff in many European countries. By 2030, according to the survey, Germany alone will need an additional 500,000 nurses, while demand for them in the United Kingdom will grow twice as fast as the population. As a reason, the World Bank recognises a lack of health education and demographic change combined. Specifically, the longer people live, the more common diseases such as cancer are, as are strokes and heart attacks, which of course usually require longer-term and more labour-intensive types of care. In addition to Bulgaria and Romania, Croatia is one of the three EU countries from which the most healthcare workers emigrate.

So far, no country has found a good political solution to this problem. The Croatiian Government is highly unlikely to be the first to do so.

In many countries, higher education is funded by public money. Therefore, the departure of the highly educated population represents a significant fiscal burden. To solve this problem, the political option that governments are forced to seek is asking for that money back from the migrants. The argument is that such a policy would increase the equality of those who leave and those who remain.

However, the World Bank states that such coercion is difficult to enforce, especially after expatriates leave the territory of a country. Moreover, if strong coercion and legal measures are imposed, it can lead to the termination of the expatriate's relationship with the country entirely and jeopardise the benefits of all of them and for everyone involved.

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As Glas Istre/Borka Petrovic writes on the 7th of September, 2019, Deputy Prefect of Istria County, Fabrizio Radin, and Deputy Mayor of Pula, Robert Cvek, recently hosted a reception for members of the 119th Croatian Army Brigade on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of its founding in Istria, Croatia.

Radin said the County and the City are actively participating in these anniversaries every year, and he pledged his support to continue. He said they were open to talks, not just about anniversaries, but about all other current affairs. He noted that as of next year, Istria County is taking over the affairs of the state administration, which involves issues related to the issues of war veterans (branitelji).

''If we've been closely linked so far in terms of cooperation, then by next year, we will surely be even more linked,'' Radin stated.

Mayor Cvek congratulated the 119th Brigade, saying that Istria must be and is proud of all that the brigade members accomplished in the defense of Croatia during the Homeland War, and especially that their war paths were honourable and free of any ''stains''.

The 119th Brigade's Roberto Fabris recalled that the brigade was founded on September the 7th, 1991, and that it covered the whole of Istria with four battalions - one in Umag, one in Pazin, and two in Pula. He recalled that a large number of JNA members were still stationed in Pula at the time and that the most important task was to try to preserve the peace.

The brigade made its way to Lika, was in Slavonia and even down south in the Ston area, and the highlight of their operation was certainly the military-police operation Storm (Oluja), Fabris said, recalling that seven members of the brigade were killed in war operations, and 82 were in some way wounded.

''Istria must be proud of its 119th Brigade, as well as all other units in the area. Our brigade is proud of everyone because it carried out all the tasks that were put before it without stains,'' Fabris said in an emotional speech, explaining that he could not hide his strong emotions because he had spent as many as 1,700 days in the brigade. He entered at the age of 25, and came out at the age of 30. He had left his entire young life on the battlefields, he said.

''Almost 90 percent of the members returned to their jobs and ordinary lives after the war, but we're proud of what we've achieved and will not let our journey be forgotten. The only thing that hurts me personally, and I believe hurts others, is that our children today are leaving the land we created. But I believe in a better future,'' Fabris concluded.

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As Novac/Gradonacelnik.hr writes on the 30th of July, 2019, the number of children born since 2009 on Croatian territory has been declining, and in those ten years, about seven and a half thousand babies less were born. The fewest births in that 10-year period occurred in 2017, when 36,556 babies were born, while last year that figure was ''fixed'' by a further 389 newborns.

36,945 babies were born last year, or 1.1 percent more than in 2017, and 52,706 people died last year, down 1.4 percent from one year before.

Considering the fact that the number of deaths on Croatian territory continuously exceeds the number of births, the natural increase remains negative. In the last ten years, 2017 and 2015 were the worst when judging by that indicator. Last year's natural increase rate was -3.9, meaning that 15,761 more people died than were born.

A positive natural increase was recorded in 58 Croatian cities and municipalities, 492 cities and municipalities had a negative result, including the City of Zagreb, and five of them had zero natural increase. Novac performed an analysis, city by city. Last year, there were more births than deaths in twelve Croatian cities, and more deaths than births in nine. Like last year, Solin, Metković, Kaštela and Dugo Selo had the most positive growth.

Last year, 278 babies were born in Solin, with a natural increase of 79 more births than deaths. The second largest city with the highest natural increase is in Split-Dalmatia County, in the coastal town of Kaštela, where 404 babies were born and 354 people died.

Metković followed with a natural increase of 47 new babies, Dugo Selo then followed with 37 new babies, Poreč with 27 new babies, Čakovec with 20, Sinj with 15, Novigrad Istarski with 5, and Orahovica and Vodnjan with four newborns. Vrgorac and Biograd na Moru had a positive increase with three, and two inhabitants. All other Croatian cities had a negative growth rate, ie, in one year, more people died than were born. From two counties, Istria and Split-Dalmatia, there are three cities with a positive natural increase.

All Croatian cities with a positive population growth are classified as medium and small cities, and they have a series of measures to retain their population and bring in new people in common. Newborn baby benefits are being raised, kindergartens are being built, housing incentives are being introduced, and entrepreneurship is being encouraged to create new jobs.

For several years now, Solin has been a record holder in Croatia in terms of natural population increase. This is certainly due to a number of measures introduced solely for children and young people.

“Solin is building two new kindergartens, with an investment value of 30,000,000 kuna. For the work of the Cvrčak (Cricket) kindergarten, which is majority owned by the City of Solin, 28,582,000 kuna will be allocated for 2019. In 2019, 2,404,000 kuna was earmarked for co-financing the work of private kindergartens (five kindergartens and one child care company). A total of 30,986,000 kuna has been planned for financing pre-school education in 2019, which is almost one third of the original budget,'' Solin's mayor Dalibor Ninčević told Novac.

He noted that Soline is also implementing various projects to help both children and their parents. Particularly noteworthy are the financial assistance measures for families with four or more children, which 95 families used in 2018, and financial support during maternity leave, which entails an additional monthly support of 700 kuna.

After Kaštela, where 15 more babies were born in 2018 than there were in 2017, and the natural increase stands at 50 inhabitants more, the next in line for positive population increase comes Metković, where 164 children were born last year, and the natural increase was 47 more live births than deaths.

Last year, the City of Metković secured the provision of textbooks for all students from the second to fourth grades who attend Metković's elementary schools, since Dubrovnik-Neretva County provided everything for those in the first grade.

“Last year, the price of kindergartens was reduced by 150 kuna, or 100 kuna, depending on the length of stay of the children. The financial allocation for newborn babies has also been increased: for the first child, it has risen from 1000 to 2500 kuna, for the second, it has risen from 1200 to 3500 kuna, for the third child, it has risen from 1400 to 4500, and for the fourth and every child after the fourth, the financial benefit has increased from 2000 to 5500 kuna.

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In only eleven Croatian cities and 47 municipalities out of a total of 566, were there more births than deaths, but most children were born in the coastal counties.

As Morski writes on the 23rd of July, 2019, Croatia's demographic picture continues to be bleak, and what might seem like a dying nation is being kept above water mainly by Dalmatians, which act as a bright spot on the demographic map of this country, where, as mentioned, out of a total of 566 Croatian cities and municipalities, only eleven cities and 47 municipalities were there more births than deaths last year.

In 2018, Split-Dalmatia County had the largest municipalities and cities with a positive natural population increase, included are four towns, Kaštela, Sinj, Solin, and Vrgorac, and ten municipalities, Baška Voda, Bol, Dugopolje, Klis, Podbablje, Podgora, Podstrana, Postira, Prolog, and Zadvarje, all of which had more births than deaths. This has been proven by the latest data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, Večernji list writes.

As stated, the Croatian cities and municipalities with a positive natural increase are mostly coastal counties, in Split-Dalmatia, Zadar, Istria, with one continental Croatian exception - Međimurje County.

52,706 people died in 2018 in Croatia, and 36,945 babies were born, in as many as 492 Croatian towns and municipalities and the City of Zagreb, there was a population decrease and only five municipalities and cities had the same number of births and deaths.

Although 389 more babies were born in 2018 than in 2017, that's merely a drop in the ocean, and a worrying one at that, when it is a well known fact that Croatia had more than 7,500 more births back in 2009 than today.

Demographer from Ivo Pilar Institute, prof. dr. Nenad Pokos, points out that the number of live births compared to deaths was recorded in only 58 Croatian municipalities and cities, or just 10.2 percent of their total number.

''Of the positive examples in the first place, it's certainly worth mentioning the town of Sinj, where there were 15 more people born last year than died, while in 2017, there were 42 more deaths than births.

In Sinj, the number of live births is larger than it was 2015, by as many as 34 births, and then compared again to 2016 where there 25 births, so in Sinj's case, we can rightly say that it is one of the few places to have recorded a baby boom.

In the Split area, the number of municipalities and towns with a natural increase is higher as Solin, Kaštela, Dugopolje, Klis and Podstrana are located here, while in Dugi Rat there is an equal number of live births and deaths.

The number of places with natural population growth in the Zadar region (Biograd, Bibinje, Galovac, Pakoštane, Poličnik and Tkon) is relatively high, while once again, Zadar has a natural decline as it also did last year, although during the period between 2011-2017, there were 355 more births than deaths.

In the Rijeka area, the record holder for natural population growth is still the Municipality of Viškovo, where the younger population has been coming and settling for the past few decades due to the possibility of easier employment in the immediate vicinity, as well as lower land prices and cheaper living costs than in Rijeka itself.

In Omišalj, there are more births than there are deaths, which is due to the proximity of Rijeka, the Rijeka suburbs, and Kostrena, stated Pokos.

More than births than deaths have also been recorded by ten towns and municipalities in Istria County, but they are very low numbers because only Poreč and the municipality of Tinjan have more births, more precisely five more, than deaths.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 20th of July, 2019, based on economic trends and the number of residents in other transition countries, Croatian economist Velimir Šonje estimates that less developed countries, as well as Croatia can stabilise their number of inhabitants when they reach 80 percent of EU average.

The message from Tao Zhang, the deputy director of the IMF, was that Croatia's region would grow old before it gets richer, ie, before it reaches a certain level of economic development that will provide all of its inhabitants with a decent standard.

Bleak outlooks dominate in almost all of Croatia's demographic forecasts by which the number of older people will be doubled by the middle of the century, and by the end of the century, there will be two retirees for every one working individual, Večernji list writes.

As stated, based on economic trends and the number of residents in other transition countries, Croatian economist Velimir Šonje estimates that less developed countries, as well as Croatia, can manage to stabilise their numbers of inhabitants when they reach 80 percent of EU average. - The Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, with no particular population decline, are around or above 80 percent of the EU average.

Estonia, which has recently reached that level, had experienced a decline earlier, but it eventually stopped, says Šonje. A researcher from the Vienna Institute, Isolda Mara, came to the conclusion that salary growth resulted in the slowing of certain types of migration. Another conclusion was also drawn, that external mobility from the newer EU member states had slowed down since 2015, and is likely to remain at a lower level in the future.

However, this analyst also points out the fact that it is too early to talk about stronger return migration. 2018 could prove to be a breakthrough year for Croatia, because last year, there was a decrease in emigration and growth in immigration ever since Croatia joined the European Union back in 2013. New Europe is copying Western countries more than those in Croatia realise it is, and they're filling their own labour market gaps with immigration from their less developed, poorer close neighbours.

Even though it makes up part of the group of countries that have managed to reach 80 percent of the average EU GDP, emigration is also still present in neighbouring Slovenia, where this year, according to official information, there are about 40,000 foreigners working there, mostly from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Unlike Croatian migrants who raise their anchors and take their entire families with them abroad, Slovenians prefer daily migration and travel to work in Austria or Italy, but continue to ''make their beds'' at home in Slovenia.

''Croatia's tragedy is the fact that it could already be close to 80 percent of EU's average growth. In 2007, Croatia was at 61 percent of the EU average, Poland was at 53 percent, and today Poland is at 71 percent! In the meantime, Croatia has steadily grown two percentage points faster than the EU average, today Croatia could have been at 76 percent instead of at 63 percent,'' said Velimir Šonje, who calculated that Croatia would reach 85 percent of the EU's average development level by 2035, if it continued to grow two percentage points faster than the EU average.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of July, 2019, according to data from Destatis, the German statistical office, 51,197 people who hold Croatian citizenship moved from Croatia to Germany in 2018. This is the first time that a drop in emigration from Croatia to Germany has been recorded, Večernji list writes.

Judging by the data from Germany and Ireland, emigration from Croatian citizens coming from Croatia has actually slowed down. The latest figures from the German and Irish statistics offices show that in the first half of this year, for the first time since Croatia's EU accession, the number of immigrants from Croatia has decreased.

According to the aforementioned German statistical office, this is the very first time that a drop in emigration from Croatia to Germany has been recorded and this has halted the trend that, according to the same data, has lasted for ten years, long before Croatian membership of the EU.

During 2017, 52,791 Croatian citizens moved to Germany, while in 2016 it was a record, when 57,155 Croatian citizens moved from Croatia to Germany. However, when it comes to this office, it is important to point out that two types of data are being published for Croats, which can cause confusion and different interpretations by media, as well as by experts.

"When we talk about Croatian citizens, we differentiate between emigration actually from Croatia and the emigration of all those who just have Croatian citizenship but are coming from other countries, especially those outside the EU. Of them, 51,197 have moved to Germany since last year, while the total number of those who just have a Croatian passport in Germany numbered 57,724 The difference of 6,527 people means that they came from a third country outside of the EU,'' the German office told Vecernji list.

However, historian and political scientist Dr. Tado Jurić of the Croatian Catholic University says it isn't true that the trend of Croatian emigration to Germany is dropping. In April 2019, when the disinformation began to spread significantly about the drop in emigration to Germany, he warned that the figures that were being put out by the media about emigration were far from real. He has claimed that this may be a deliberate misrepresentation of data, or simply a lack of statistical reading methodology.

''According to data from the Federal Migration Office (BamF), which provides final immigration data and which is always used by the German Parliament, back in 2016, there were 51,163 immigrants from Croatia, in 2017, there were 50,283, and last year, there were 51,197 according to Destatis. Destatis takes all people with Croatian citizenship into consideration, and BamF includes immigrants and returnees from Croatia and is therefore more precise,'' according to Jurić. BamFa's data for 2018 will be announced in October this year.

Jurić believes that the number of Croatian returnees will increase in the next few years.

The jump in Croatian emigration was of course most visible after the country joined the EU and adopted the four fundamental freedoms of the single market, one of which is the free movement of labour.

Back in 2008, 8,418 Croatian citizens moved to Germany, in 2013, the year Croatia joined the EU, 24,845 of them went to Germany, in 2014, 43,843 of them went to Germany, and in 2015, when the German labour market became fully open to Croatian citizens, 57,996 Croatian citizens moved there. The second destination to which Croats tend to emigrate - Ireland - recorded a fall in arrivals from Croatia for the first time in 2018.

The Irish Central Statistical Office estimates the number of immigrants according to the number of Personal Public Service Numbers (PPSN), an identification number similar to the Croatian OIB used for employment and social benefits.

In the first six months of 2019, 1,648 numbers were issued to Croatian citizens, while in the same period last year, as many as 2,119 Croats received a number. The same trend is seen in Ireland as in Germany - in 2009 only 60 PPSN numbers were issued, and a significant jump is seen upon Croatia's accession to the EU. From 483 to 2,103, the number jumped up to 2,091 in 2014, and doubled a year later to 4,342, and peaked in 2016 with 5,312 issued PPSNs.

By 2017, the number fell slightly to 4,908, and the decline continued last year when 4,346 Croatian citizens received a PPSN number, this year, a reduction of nearly a quarter has already been seen in Ireland. However, in Sweden, the number of immigrants from Croatia is climbing - there are now 1,150 Croatian citizens legally there, there were 1,084 back in 2017, and for years before that the number was always around 1,000.

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