January the 7th, 2022 - The popular Croatian e-Citizens platform (e-Gradjani) has allowed people needing to visit various offices with various pieces of paper in order to get their hands on other pieces of paper to go through the process from home. As of today, 100 different services are available.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian e-Citizens platform is a project of the Croatian Government that provides information and electronic services to both individuals and enterprises in one place and enables much more quick and easy communication with public administration. As such, people and businesses alike can access public electronic services provided by public sector bodies on their own behalf, on behalf of their children or persons for whom they're guardians, as well as on behalf of their business entity.

The main goal of these public electronic services is to save people's time, provide communication from anywhere and quickly and efficiently resolve requests addressed to public sector bodies, without the need for people to visit any of these institutions in person, replacing it all with efficient and time saving digital technologies.

The redesign of the Croatian e-Citizens platform, which took place in 2021, focused on people's needs and the way in which individuals use their digital identities. A new element has been introduced - a navigation bar, which enables the functionality of a single login and logout, accessibility assistance (for those with dyslexia), and the retrieving of user data via an OIB, regardless of whether a natural person or a business user is in question. The redesigned Croatian e-Citizens platform and system has also provided new functionality through which a parent can access a service for their child and an authorised person can do the same for a company.

Today, the services offered on the Croatian e-Citizens platform are used by more than 1.57 million people across Croatia, whose number has increased by almost 25 percent in the past year alone. This was likely aided by the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions which came with it.

Out of a total of 100 services available on the e-Citizens platform today, the most frequently used services are the ones for accessing a EU digital COVID certificate, e-Registry books, e-services of the Ministry of the Interior (MUP), e-Tax and the e-Health Portal. The services have been used almost 81 million times, and in 2021 alone more than 33.5 million times.

The newest, 100th service, provided by the State Geodetic Administration, enables the submission of a geodetic study of infrastructure to the competent cadastral office for review and confirmation electronically, and the ability to search, receive and distribute information on current or planned construction works and the export of that information to infrastructure owners/managers.

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ZAGREB, 10 Oct, 2021 - The e-Citizens system could be called a coronavirus profiteer as it boomed during the pandemic, with more than 1.5 million registered users, Večernji List daily said on Sunday.

Although the appetites of the Central State Office for Digital Society Development, which operates the system, are much bigger, the number of registered citizens is almost twice as high as before the pandemic, the paper said.

The first incentive came from the e-passes introduced in spring 2020, during the first lockdown. They were required for crossing county lines and could be obtained much faster via e-Citizens.

The second motive for registering were the COVID certificates. On 1 June 2021, e-Citizens had 1,288,211 users. Since the moment the certificates could be obtained digitally until early September, the number of users went up by 115,255, while the number of those who registered only for the EU Digital COVID Certificate service in that period was 498,842.

The latest incentive for registration, bringing 83,500 new users, was the recently held first phase of the population census, during which citizens could self-enumerate online via e-Citizens.

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September the 25th, 2021 - You still need to answer the door when an enumerator comes knocking, even if you've signed the 2021 Croatian census online. We've entered the 21st century, but don't worry, we're still not quite there yet...

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Lidija Brkovic, the director general of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) told HTV that people still need to answer the enumerator's knock at their door, as they'll come anyway.

''An enumerator will receive between 200 and 250 addresses, which he is obliged to visit,'' said Lidija Brkovic, adding that the code you received after you were completed the Croatian census online is used by the Central Bureau of Statistics as a coverage control list, so they still need to be presented with it.

"For example, if a building has several floors, the enumerator can't know which apartments are listed, which has yet to be listed or which apartment is empty," she said, explaining why the code people are given after completing the Croatian census online is very important. The enumerator will knock on your door, she said, also because maybe not everyone in the same apartment has been enumerated and maybe some aspects weren't clear, so questions can be asked for the sake of clarity.

Enumerators are expected to have COVID certificates, meaning they have either contracted COVID and since recovered, they've been fully vaccinated - or they have returned a recent negative test. In addition, they're obliged to respect all of the current epidemiological measures, so they'll maintain social distancing and they'll wear masks. It is recommended that enumerators do their work outside of people's apartments, which is why the Central Bureau of Statistics hopes for good weather, Brkovic added.

You can completed the 2021 Croatian census online until Sunday, September 26th, 2021. After Sunday, a little less than eight thousand enumerators are set to go out into the field.

"Given that fake enumerators appeared and some citizens had unfortunately experienced unpleasant situations, I'd like to warn people once again that the authorised enumerators of the Central Bureau of Statistics will go to the field only on Monday," said Brkovic.

Almost a million people have already registered themselves through the e-Citizens (e-Gradjani) system so far, most of them being in Zagreb.

Bernard Grsic, State Secretary of the Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society, called on people to enumerate themselves online in the next few days in order to make things easier for enumerators. Getting a credential to access the e-Citizens platform, he says, isn't complicated. 

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September the 23rd, 2021 - The Croatian census of 2021 is well and truly underway. With the possibility to fill in the census online through e-Citizens (e-Gradjani) due to expire on the 26th of this month, 8000 Croatian enumerators are set to take to the field for everyone else as of Monday.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, as of Monday at 15:00, more than a quarter of the population of the City of Zagreb had successully self-registered on the 2021 census online. That is equal to (on the aforementioned date) 208,148 (25.72 percent of the capital's population, which is twice as many self-registered residents as in most Croatian counties. However, this was also expected given that the capital also has a larger share of younger, more educated and IT-literate population.

The demographically devastated counties of Vukovar-Srijem (8.92 percent), Lika-Senj (9.09 percent), Brod-Posavina (9.43 percent) and Virovitica-Podravina (9.61 percent) have the least self-registered inhabitants so far. After Zagreb, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County leads in those who have completed their self-census, in which more than a fifth of the population was registered through the e-Citizens system, 57,514 (20.46 percent), followed by Zagreb County, with 17.41% percent and then Istria County, with 15.23 percent of the local population having completed the process online.

Croatia's second largest county, Split-Dalmatia, with 447 thousand inhabitants, hasn't yet bumped up its numbers in terms of the census, because only 13.76 percent of the population self-registered in one week. However, it is better than Dubrovnik-Neretva, where 13.23 percent of the population had completed the process online. In Zadar, a mere 11.40 percent of local citizens enumerated themselves, and in Sibenik-Knin, just 11.93 percent of inhabitants did the same.

The share of enumerated residents in coastal counties is worthy of special emphasis, considering the fact that in these counties, people showed the least interest in responding to the public call and as such Croatian enumerators are still being sought, so it would be good to enumerate more people online in these counties.

In the largest Slavonian county, Osijek-Baranja, with 269.5 thousand inhabitants, 13.21 percent of residents had successfully registered themselves by Monday, which is the highest of all of the Slavonian counties.

More than 8000 Croatian enumerators are set to take to the field

Residents can, as previously stated, enumerate themselves until September the 26th, and they can also enumerate their elderly parents and/or grandparents who live in another household. This is followed by the second phase of the census from September the 27th to October the 17th, when almost 8,000 Croatian enumerators have to go out into the field to enumerate people who failed to enumerate themselves, as well as to perform controls and correct mistakes made during self-enumeration.

The census will be able to be conducted until October the 29th at the latest if needed.

A fine of 2,000 to 5,000 kuna can be imposed on people who refuse to provide their data for the census and those who provide inaccurate and incomplete data during the census. More than 1000 controllers supervise the work of Croatian enumerators, and they control the accuracy and coverage of all of the collected data.

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September the 17th, 2021 - The Croatian 2021 e-Census, the very first of its kind, is going well so far. The powers that be have stated that there has been a fantastic response and that the system has been functioning very well.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the very first Croatian 2021 e-Census started being filled in and completed by Croatia's residents on Monday, it will continue that way until September the 26th. Most of those to have filled it in online reside in the City of Zagreb, and the least so far live in in Lika-Senj County. Slightly more than 320,000 residents of the country had self-registered through e-citizens by yesterday morning.

''We're more than satisfied, approximately 100,000 new people are being registered online daily. Zagreb boasts the largest pool of those people and most people there have registered themselves, but other counties are also present to a satisfactory extent,'' said Lidija Brković, CBS Director General, as a guest on the HRT show "Good Morning, Croatia/Dobro jutro, Hrvatska''.

Brkovic said that there was no system failure to speak of so far, but there were problems on Monday at around 13:00.

''New people could register themselves, but those who had already started filling it in online had problems for about 15 minutes in completing the questionnaire. We're more than satisfied with things so far, we've had a lot of positive comments and it's all very simple,'' said Brkovic, adding that it takes 15 to 20 minutes to list a family of four.

It is enough that only one family member in the household has an e-Citizens credential and that they'rethe reference person. People can also list grandparents, but if they live in another household they must also have an e-Citizens credential.

The questionnaire has about 60 questions. If you don’t answer a question that is mandatory, you can’t go any further. When you've finished the Croatian 2021 e-Census, you will receive a verification code that you need to keep hold of until the second stage of the census when you hand it over to the enumerator to show that you have completed the census.

In the last three days, there have been about 8500 more people using the e-Citizens platform, which is also excellent.

''People shouldn't worry about this data being connected to some other databases or registers, this is merely statistical data and it is all kept separate,'' explained Bernard Grsic, State Secretary of the Central State Office for the Digital Development of Society.

Enumerators are set to go out into the field on September the 26th. The second phase of the census lasts until October the 27th with the possibility of an extension.

''If you aren't home, they'll leave a message for you to contact them and arrange a time when they can come. They'll probably be able to come at any time during day. Everyone will get their census circles. The assumption is that people who work in the morning won't be at home. Not all family members have to be at home, but a person who is in must have their OIBs because they can't list them without it,'' said Brkovic.

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ZAGREB, 28 June 2021 - Croatia is near the very top among European countries in terms of development of the digital services it offers to citizens, and a total of 89 e-services are available to citizens, Jutarnji List daily reported on Monday.

According to data from the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society, there are 1,281,911 users of the e-Citizens system in Croatia. During the pandemic, the number of users rose by as much as 50%. On 1 March 2020, there were 839,935 users, and by 26 May, the number had gone up by 441,976.

Interior Minister Davor Božinović told Jutarnji List that 2020, the year of COVID, had forced people or at least hurried them into looking for solutions in the digital world.

"Every time when we move the solution to a problem or the exercise of a right into the digital sphere..., we send a clear message to citizens: We appreciate your time, we are thinking of your health," Božinović said.

It all started back in 2014 with the issuing of new electronic ID cards and launching the e-Citizens system as a central place for e-services.

Of all the applications available, citizens use the application of the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) the most. To date, as many as 773,165 applications have been submitted, including 8,401 applications for an e-driver's licence, 3,965 for an e-passport, 4,149 for e-registration of temporary residence of Croatian citizens and 122,568 e-registrations of permanent residence of newborn children.

MUP's IT experts also launched the Enter Croatia project. It is used by foreigners who intend to stay in Croatia, and they can submit their data in advance via the website in order to reduce waiting times at the border. The program has now been upgraded with digital COVID certificate. Over the past year, 2,469,931 announcements of arrival in Croatia have been received through the application. The application also includes a portal via which digital nomads can apply for a temporary stay of up to 12 months. Thirty-six digital nomads have applied to date.

The Commercial Services Agency (AKD) has announced new digital projects, such as the new generation of ID cards and passports, biometric residence permits, and EU digital COVID-19 certificates.

"We will also establish a platform with electronic services for e/m-Signature and e/m-Stamp, create an ID mobile application and enable valid electronic signatures via mobile phones and tablets," said AKD CEO Jure Sertić.

As of 2 August, the e-ID card will be merged with the health insurance card but not with the driver's licence. Minister Božinović points out that an EU directive prescribes the appearance and content of the form of driver's licences and that an ID card cannot contain a driver's licence.

In September, the e-Citizens system will be upgraded to include the 2021 census of the population, households and dwellings. Citizens will be able to register using an electronic census questionnaire, Jutarnji List said.

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