The number of Croatians who are dissatisfied with their lives has almost halved in the last 10 years. This is according to a Eurobarometer survey published on Tuesday, which shows that the biggest challenges cited by Croatian respondents are inflation, the state of the economy and pensions.

The number of those who are satisfied with their lives in Croatia is four times higher than the number of those who are dissatisfied.

The survey commissioned by the European Commission, which was conducted between October and November 2024, found that 81% of Croatian respondents are satisfied with their lives, while 19% are dissatisfied.

Number of people worried about inflation almost twice as high as in the EU

Ten years ago, the percentage of dissatisfied people in Croatia was around 34%. On average in the EU, 86% of survey participants are satisfied with their lives.

Both the average Croatian and European respondent put inflation at the top of the list of difficulties facing their country.

In Croatia, however, the number of people who are worried about inflation is almost twice as high as the EU average (63% in Croatia and 33% of respondents in the EU).

Croatian respondents cite the state of the economy as the second biggest concern (22%), while it is third for the European average (18%), according to the survey. Pensions are the third biggest concern for Croatians (17%), while pensions are a much smaller problem at EU level (9%).

Croatian and European respondents consider the situation in Ukraine to be the biggest challenge currently facing the European Union. Croatian respondents consider the international situation to be the second most important problem (28%), while Europeans consider immigration (28%) to be the second most important problem.

Trust in the Croatian media has increased

Fifty-five per cent of Croatian respondents said that immigration from third countries causes negative feelings, which is similar to the European average of 54%.

As for immigration from other EU member countries, 58% of Croatian respondents are in favour of it, which is below the European average of 66%.

The survey also revealed a decline in Croatian citizens’ trust in the European Union, which now stands at 53%.

In the last two years, trust in the Croatian media has increased by 12 percentage points. 60% of respondents now trust them, which is nine percentage points below the EU average.

“However, 70% of Croatian and European respondents are frequently confronted with fake news, and three quarters of Croatian respondents and two percentage points more Europeans consider the existence of disinformation to be a problem in their country.