When it comes to the quality of life indicators, Croatia tops Europe in spending time with family, engaging in physical activity and having a sense of security, but ranks low in travelling, attending cultural and sports events and taking hobby-related courses.
Spending time with family and relatives is one of the activities to which Croatian citizens dedicate most of their spare time. According to Eurostat, almost one-third of the Croatian population (29.7%) spends time with their families and relatives every day, which is 13% higher than the European average, the State Bureau of Statistics (DZS) published in the comparative analysis between the quality of life in Croatia and the EU.
Twenty-nine percent of Croats (the EU average is 35.2%) spend time with family and relatives every week, while 11.7% does the same only once a month, which is close to the EU average of 12.9%.
According to the proportion of those who have not spend any time with family and relatives in the past 12 months (1.6%), Croatia ranks above the EU average of 2.3%.
Croats ride bikes more but attend cultural events less
The Eurostat statistics indicate that Croatian citizens score better in physical activities than an average European. As much as 85.7% of Croatian citizens chose walking (EU-average: 74.4%), almost one-third choses riding a bike (30.2% in comparison with 19.7% in the EU) while 21.6% opts for aerobics (4.4% in the EU).
Body-building is a single physical activity which Croats do less frequently than Europeans – 9.6% in comparison with 24.2% in the EU.
Visiting cultural or sports activities is mostly reserved for leisure time. A little less than half of Croatian population attends cultural or sports events at least once a year (43.7%) ranking Croatia high in the EU, right before Bulgaria (32%) and Romania (29.6%). The EU-average is 67.3%.
Almost 60% of households cannot afford one week of travelling
Many people like to travel in their spare time. According to the last EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions published in 2017, 58.1% of citizens live in households that cannot afford one week of vacation outside of their home for all family members.
This fact ranks Croatian at the penultimate place in the EU, right behind Romania with 64.8% of citizens.
Denmark ranks highest in this category with 13.8% of citizens who cannot afford a one-week vacation.
Although half of respondents live in households that cannot afford one week of vacation outside of their homes, almost one-third of Croatian citizens (30%) aged 16 to 74 uses the Internet to browse services related to traveling and accommodation. However, this percentage is still bellow the EU-average of 49%.
Although the statistics indicate that we tend to dedicate our spare time to various activities, a very small portion of population will make a decision about taking a hobby-relate course, the DZS noticed.
To be specific, the EU-SILC 2016 indicates that only 4.5% of Croatian citizens in their spare time take a course, seminar or a workshop organised at a club, centre, or online to acquire additional knowledge or skills related to their hobbies, sports or leisure time.
In this case, the EU-average is 11.1% of citizens.
Croatia among leaders in number of dentists
According to Eurostat statistics, there are 319.1 physicians per 100,000 citizens. Austria is the country with the highest proportion (509.7 physicians per 100,000 citizens) while Poland has the lowest proportion (232.8 physicians per 100,000 citizens).
At the same time, when the number of dentists per 100,000 citizens is observed, the highest proportion is found in Bulgaria (105.1) and the lowest in Poland (33.2) while Croatia is near the top with 79.5 dentists per 100,000 citizens.
Leading a healthy lifestyle should not only be a trend but a basic need. Although there are many surveys trying to confirm or reject that argument, many believe that healthy living is closely linked to life expectancy. The Eurostat statistics on life expectancy at birth rank Croatia with 78.2 years somewhat bellow the EU-average of 81 years.
Croats work 2.4 hours more than EU-average but we feel more secure
As with healthy living, job security is no longer a guarantee of quality life. However, it has a great impact on many aspects of life and contributes to the level of satisfaction. The latest statistics on the EU unemployment rates published in June 2018 rank Croatia above the EU-average with 9.2% in comparison with 6.9% in the EU.
The average number of weekly working hours also ranks Croatia above the average. While the EU-average amounts to 36.4 hours a week, Croatian citizens work on average 38.8 hours a week.
The sense of security is another element that has a great impact on the quality of life. According to the EU-SILC 2016 results, the proportion of persons stating that they are faced with the problem of crime, violence or vandalism in their immediate environment amounted to 13% on the EU level.
The same indicator for Croatia is only 3%, which ranks Croatia among the top EU member states whose citizens have least problems with crime, violence or vandalism in their environment. Therefore, Croatia may be regarded as a country whose citizens feel secure.