Some 52.8 percent of Croatians polled said they believed that membership in an influential political party was more important that education in order to have a successful life in Croatia, state agency Hina reported on Thursday, citing Jutarnji List daily, which published the findings of a survey commissioned by RTL television.

The survey, which covered 1,054 respondents, showed that 56 percent of men and 50 percent of women think party membership is more important than any academic degree. This belief is more widespread among older respondents than among youths and is more prevalent among those who only have primary or secondary school degrees.

Only 47.5 percent of Croatians agreed that hard work is the path to success in life, and this opinion is equally shared by men and women. Hard work as a factor of success is least valued by respondents with secondary school education. However, the “most concerning” finding according to Hina, is that the most productive part of the population, those aged 30 to 50, make up the smallest portion of Croatians who believe that hard work brings success.

As many as 59 percent of respondents think having good social connections is essential to land a good job, and the majority of these are aged 40 to 60 and with primary or secondary school education.

The residents of Istria and the Littoral area of Croatia seem to be the happiest about their jobs, with as many as 61  percent saying so, followed by those in northern Croatia (59 percent), while the residents of Dalmatia are the least happy (50 percent).

Some 46 percent of respondents said they were unhappy or indifferent about their job. Among those employed, 3.4 percent said they were actively looking for a job abroad, and these were mainly people from the private sector.

Only 59 percent of those employed said they felt that their formal education was important for their job, and a third of all holders of academic degrees don’t work in their professional field at all. Only 50 percent of employed Croatians feel that higher education is linked to faster career advancement, while the other half feel it depends on factors such as party membership or social connections.