In the period from 2007 to 2016 the number of registered taxi businesses in Croatia has exploded to increase 14 times, with the number of drivers employed shooting up 20 times, according to a report by the state's Financial Agency (Fina) released on Friday.

Fina’s data show that in 2016 there were a total of 260 taxi cab companies in the country, up from only 18 in 2007. These employed a total of 886 registered drivers in 2016, up from only 44 in 2007. The data does not include Uber drivers, as they are currently not legally classified as a taxi service.

The biggest growth of registered drivers was recorded in 2011, when it increased sevenfold compared to 2010 – from 96 in 2010 to 670 only a year later.

The report also showed that the total revenue of companies in the sector in 2016 was 138.5 million kuna (€18.7 million), more than ten times up from 12.1 million kuna in 2007. Even so, expenditures also increased from 11.5 million kuna to 140.3 million kuna in the same period. This resulting in the sector posting a consolidated loss of 2.5 million kuna in 2016.

By company, the Cammeo group had the highest revenue in 2016, at 28.9 million kuna, or 20.9 percent of the entire sector revenue. The group operates taxi services in 28 Croatian cities, and has recently expanded to locations in Slovenia and Serbia.

(€1 = 7.39 kuna)

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