Population drops in 2022, says national bureau of statistics

According to a mid-2022 population estimate, Croatia had 3,855,641 inhabitants, of whom 1,860,511 were men and 1,995,130 women, and as compared to the 2021 estimate, the population decreased by 23,340 persons or 0.6%, the national statistical office said on Friday.

An increase in population was recorded in Zagreb County, where, as compared to the previous year estimate, a relative increase of 0.47% was recorded, in Istria County (0.33%), and in Zadar County (0.10%).

A decrease in population was recorded in all other counties, and the highest relative decrease was recorded in Pozega-Slavonia County (2.09%), Slavonski Brod-Posavina County (1.95%), Virovitica-Podravina County (1.92%) and Vukovar-Srijem County (1.85%).

In 2022, population ageing continued. The average age was 44.3 years, placing Croatia among the oldest nations in Europe.

The share of youth (0-19 years of age) in the total population was 19.2%. At county level, the lowest share of youth was in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (16.7%) and the highest in Međimurje County (21.5%).

The largest number of persons aged 65 and over was recorded in Sibenik-Knin County (27.6%) and Lika-Senj County (26.1%), while the smallest number was recorded in the City of Zagreb (20.7%) and Međimurje County (20.8%).

Also, 52.2% of the population lived in only five counties, most of them in the City of Zagreb (767,445 or 19.9%) and Split-Dalmatia County (423,400 or 11.0%), while the least populated counties were Lika-Senj County (42,578 or 1.1%) and Pozega-Slavonia County (63,037 or 1.6%).