April 7, 2022 – World Health Day is marked under the slogan "Our planet, our health". This year, the data from a large European study reveals the prevalence and incidence of the most common diseases.

HRT reports on the situation in Croatia, where as many as one million and two hundred thousand people have hypertension, while ten percent of the population has diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These are data from the first such research in Croatia as part of a European project on the incidence of the most common diseases. This year's World Health Day aims to raise awareness of the impact of the environment on human health.

The most common diseases in Croatia are hypertension, chronic lung diseases, and diabetes

Hypertension, chronic lung diseases, and diabetes are the most common diseases of the elderly population in Croatia, according to data on population morbidity presented by the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) for the first time today on World Health Day.

These are data for Croatia collected as part of the Eurostat project "Morbidity Statistics", with the aim of determining the incidence of certain conditions and diseases as determined by the European Commission.

The collected data shows that almost a third of the Croatian population suffers from hypertension, and this share increases significantly in the elderly population - eight out of ten people over the age of 65 have some of the diseases in this group.

Chronic lung diseases also affect the elderly population, with data showing that one in ten people over the age of 65 suffer from such diseases.

The research once again proved a high presence of diabetes among the population: almost 10 percent of the Croatian population suffers from diabetes, with a rise to a quarter of the population over 65.

High prevalence of mood disorders, anxiety, arthrosis, dementia ...

Mood disorders (affective disorders), which were diagnosed in 6.6 percent of the population, also have a high prevalence. They are twice as common in women as in the male population (8.7 percent versus 4.4 percent) and are most often diagnosed in women over 50.

The situation is similar when it comes to anxiety disorders. They are twice as common in women as in men (16.7 percent versus 8.3 percent), and especially affect the female population after the age of 50.

Osteoarthritis has a relatively high prevalence - 10.8 percent of the population, ischemic heart disease - 5.8 percent and cerebrovascular disease - 2.9 percent.

The prevalence of dementia (including Alzheimer's disease) in the age group over 60 is 2.9 percent, with it being twice as common in women after the age of 70.

The reference period was from 2015 to 2017, data were collected from 1 March 2019 to 1 September 2020. In addition to Croatia, a number of countries took part in the project, including Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, and Poland.

The publication is the beginning of systematic data collection on the frequency of leading public health problems in Croatia based on prevalence (total number of cases) and incidence (number of new cases), not just on the use of health care, which is a big qualitative step in national health statistics.

“The World Health Organization estimates that more than thirteen million deaths worldwide, including 1.4 million deaths in the European Region of the World Health Organization are related to avoidable environmental factors”, said Primarius Iva Pejnović Franelić, MD, Ph.D. of the Croatian office of the World Health Organization.

For more, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 18 March, 2021 - Croatia had 149 unpopulated settlements in the last population census ten years ago and there will likely be more in the upcoming one, it was said on Thursday at a meeting of the parliamentary environment and nature protection committee.

The committee debated a 2013-19 report on Croatia's territory which confirms that settlements in border and mountain regions continue to die out, while concentrating in central Croatia, including Zagreb.

The data were presented by Sunčana Habrun of the Physical Planning Ministry, including on planned construction and business zones.

Planned construction zones cover about 400,000 hectares, 7% of the state territory, and business- about 112,000 hectares, 2% of the state territory.

"Is that a lot? Little?" wondered Juro Brkan of the ruling HDZ.

Habrun said it was too much and that Croatia had more than enough construction zones. Those zones are "extensively" planned given Croatia's situation and demographic figures, she added.

She said it was up to local government to see how to fight off demands for expanding construction zones.

Rovinj has decided that it wants no more hospitality and tourism zones because they endanger sustainable tourism development, she said.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

There can be no denying that Croatia's overall demographic picture is grim. An astonishing amount of people have left, mainly since the country's accession to the European Union, when borders ''opened'' and life was made easier for those seeking opportunities abroad, but also since before then. With an enormous number of Croats having fled the country, mainly from the overlooked continental and eastern areas, the already poor Croatian demographic picture is growing more and more bleak.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 13th of December, 2018, over the last six or seven years, all the first graders from the entire territory of the Levanjska Varoš municipality, with its 136 square kilometres, in which there are just nine settlements, will sit behind just three school desks, according to a depressing report on Croatia's continually worsening demographic crisis by Glas Slavonije.

The small number of children born in this part of Osijek-Baranja County this year offers no hope for this municipality, at least at the moment, and with very little room for optimism in expectations of its demographic recovery, other measures are being sought.

Cash for every birth is an incentive for many, as the aforementioned area is one of the least populated areas, the first association of which is one of ​​poor development, a small population, and one of the areas in the whole of the Republic of Croatia which is the most in need.

In Levanjska Varoš, there are currently less than 6.9 inhabitants per square kilometre. The last census, which was carried out back in 2011, stated that there are 1,250 inhabitants, but, according to the mayor Slavko Tidlačka, for a long time now there have been less than 1,000, about 950 people who live in one of the nine settlements.

Like the poor Croatian demographic picture in general, the prospects for many local villages in this area, as well as across the country as a whole, with a little more ''leg room'' in some areas, are still extremely bad.

Until recently, this municipality has been awarding parents a sum of 1,000 kuna for each newborn child, but now that amount has been significantly boosted. Last year's decision on the right to financial compensation for newborn children in the area was passed. According to the details of that move, parents are paid 2,000 kuna for their first and second child, 5,000 kuna for a third, and for the fourth and then every next child, as much as 10,000 kuna.

Make sure to follow our lifestyle page for more information on the poor demographic image in Croatia and much more.

June 18, 2018 — Five years ago, I revealed my decision to leave New York City and move to Croatia. Now everyone's scrambling in the opposite direction.

Why?

June 4, 2018 — It's actually much worse. Few Croats bother announcing their departure.