At the end of November 2022, there were 1,617,006 public pension policy holders registered with the state pension fund HZMO, or 2 percent (33,875) up year-on-year, the state news platform Hina reported on Tuesday, citing data released by the HZMO.

The number of people holding mandatory pension policies is an indicator used in Croatia to gauge employment levels and jobs.

Although the latest figure of 1.617 million employed people indicates a 15-year high and a return to the pre-crisis level from before the 2008 financial crisis, it also means that only 49.5 percent out of 3.264 million adult Croatians over the age of 18 are in gainful employment.

The remaining half includes about 1.23 million pensioners who receive pensions from the state-run HZMO.

By industry, in November the largest number of policy holders were registered in the manufacturing industry (251,128), followed by wholesale and retail trade (243,788), construction (132,360) and the largely state-run education system (124,271).