According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, over 40,000 people emigrate from Croatia every year. We are talking about a city almost as big as Karlovac. And is the grass really greener in someone else's garden? What changes in Croatia could encourage young people to return to their home country? Tea Mihanovic from N1 Zagreb spoke about this with two emigrants, Croats now living in Ireland, Jakov Rakic and Matej Pergl.

Jakov Rakic has been living in Ireland for 6 years and works as a manager in a grocery shop, while Matej Pergl has been in Ireland for a year and works in digital marketing. He left Croatia at the age of 19 and has lived in Denmark, Poland, Spain and currently in Ireland.

“People who do not live in Croatia should not vote”

“The salaries and multiculturalism cannot be compared to Croatia,” said Jakov Rakic, while Matej Pergl said: “The first positive thing about living in Ireland is that I signed an employment contract within ten days of arriving in Ireland. The other side of living in Ireland is the bureaucracy. It’s more fluid and did not give me as many headaches as in Croatia.”

Rakic explains that he left Croatia because of the financial situation.

“I do not think the political situation was a key factor in my decision, but it’s easier to leave when you move away from something you perceive as negative,” Rakic said, while Pergl emphasised that he left Croatia to study digital marketing in Denmark.

As for voting in the parliamentary election, Jakov will not participate because he believes that people who do not live in Croatia should not vote, while Matej revealed that his application has been accepted and he will go to the polls on Wednesday.

No country is perfect, but the grass is indeed greener in Ireland

Matej named the three most important things that need to be solved in the country for him to return to Croatia.

“1. Solve the octopus of corruption. 2. The relationship between prices and income needs to be healthier and 3. There is a lack of external direct investment in Croatia. there are simply no strong brands in Croatia where a young person could build a special institution, like Microsoft, Google or Meta. In Ireland, every third or fifth person works in one of these companies,” he said.

“I think it’s very important in Croatia to solve the problem of finding a job quickly, but also finding a place to live. This is also a problem in Ireland, but I have heard that it is the same in Zagreb,” said Jakov, while Matej added: “There are ghettoised zones in Dublin. Ireland has significant problems with security at the moment, that’s a big problem,” said Matej, while Jakov added: “Croatia is a much safer country than Ireland,” he said.

Jakob concludes by saying that the grass is greener in Ireland, while Matthew concludes that no country is perfect, but agrees with him.

“Ireland is a good country for someone who comes with a clear goal,” concluded Matej.