Croatia has been an emigrant country throughout its history. As a result, roughly the same number of Croats live outside Croatia as in it. According to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, Croatia has 3.855.641 inhabitants, and it is estimated that there are over 3.2 million Croats and their descendants abroad. index.hr.
Although it is about the continuity of emigration for centuries, in some periods it was particularly intense. The latest wave began after the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, and intensified with Croatia's entry into the EU. Until then, Croatia even had a positive migration balance, more people moved in than left, primarily due to immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In terms of the number of inhabitants, Croatia has thus returned to the levels of the late 40s, and almost a third of the inhabitants are pensioners. It is clear that primarily young people left, who could not find employment in Croatia and who were disappointed by the socio-economic situation. On the official website of the Central State Office for Croats outside the Republic of Croatia, a list of countries and the number of Croats and their descendants living in them is published:
- Argentina: about 250.000
- Australia: about 250.000
- Austria: about 90.000
- Belgium: about 7000
- Brazil: about 70.000
- Bolivia: about 5000
- Chile: about 200.000
- Denmark: about 2500
- Ecuador: about 4000
- France: about 40.000
- Ireland: about 20.000
- Italy: about 60.000
- South Africa: about 8000
- Canada: about 250.000
- Luxembourg: around 3000
- The Netherlands: about 10.000
- Norway: around 2000
- New Zealand: about 100.000
- Germany: about 500.000
- Paraguay: about 5000
- Peru: about 6000
- United States of America: about 1.200.000
- Sweden: about 40.000
- Switzerland: about 80.000
- Uruguay: about 5000
- Great Britain: about 5000
- Venezuela: about 5000
According to the website, the data was collected based on assessments by Croatian diplomatic missions and consular offices, Croatian Catholic missions, as well as censuses in the countries where Croatian emigrants and their descendants live. index.hr.
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