In 2017, Croatia was among European Union member states which recorded a surplus in international personal transfers, sent or received by Croatian residents. Croatia's total net surplus in personal transfers was €823 million, while the EU28 deficit amounted to more than €20 billion, Eurostat reported on Friday.

In 2017, money received by Croatian residents from abroad, referred to as personal transfers, totalled €1.07 billion, while money sent outside of the country amounted to €248 million.

Out of the total incoming funds, €566 million came from other EU countries, with €505 million from countries outside the bloc. As for transfer destinations abroad, some €110 million was sent to the EU, and €138 million to non-EU countries.

In 2017 the total outflow in personal transfers from the EU amounted to €32.7 billion, up from €31.8 billion in 2016. Incoming transfers totalled €10.7 billion, meaning the EU had an overall deficit of €22.0 billion. In 2016, the deficit was €21.7 billion.

Out of 26 EU countries that Eurostat published data for, 11 recorded a surplus and 15 posted a deficit in personal money transfers.

The data indicates migration flows, as the majority of personal transfers are funds sent by immigrant workers back to their home countries.

The highest inflow of funds were recorded by Portugal and Poland, at €3.6 billion and €3.1 billion respectively. They were followed by Romania, with €2.8 billion, and the United Kingdom, at €2.3 billion.

As for outflow, the highest were from France (€10.6 billion), Spain (€7.3 billion), the United Kingdom (€6.8 billion), and Italy (€6.1 billion).

In terms of countries’ balance, the largest surplus in 2017 was by Portugal (€3.0 billion), Poland (€2.8 billion), and Romania (€2.6 billion), while France recorded by far the largest deficit of €10.1 billion, followed by Germany (€4.6 billion), the United Kingdom (€4.5 billion) and Italy (€4.0 billion).

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