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Trends in Quality of Life in Croatia 2007-2012

The trends and changes in quality of life of the Croatian population based on the Eurofound’s EQLS (European Quality of Life Survey) rounds conducted in 2007 and 2012 will be presented. The key indices of quality of life include perceptions of living standard, material deprivation, housing, work and employment, work-life balance, quality of society in terms of trust in people and institutions, quality of public institutions, social tension and social exclusion, physical and mental health, healthcare and subjective well-being. The main challenge in analysing these domains was to compare trends and changes within the country with the trends and changes in the EU28 to give a better understanding of the gaps in the process of EU integration. At that time of 3rd EQLS (2011/2012) Croatia was close to becoming the 28th EU country. The data were analysed to reveal the differences in the most relevant socio-demographic characteristics of Croatian citizens (age, gender, income, education, type of settlement). The analysed trends in various quality of life indices showed interesting result: in spite of the economic crisis, high unemployment, low income, relatively low living standards and low trust in the most important public institutions, Croatian citizens experienced an increase in subjective well-being in the period 2007 to 2012, accompanied with better perceived health. The positive changes were found to be more pronounced in the most vulnerable groups of citizens: older, living in rural areas, unemployed and with lower income. However, it is essential to acknowledge that these vulnerable groups by many indices are still well below the country averages as well as EU28 averages. Eurofound’s EQLS proved to be a powerful tool for monitoring key aspects of quality of life in an international perspective. Regular monitoring of these aspects can provide valuable data for policy makers, especially at the time when a society expects substantial changes and reforms, as Croatia is expecting now when became full member of EU.

Quality of life; Croatia; EQLS; EU enlargement

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