Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Croatia instead of Serbia, you would:

Health

live 3.0 years longer

In Serbia, the average life expectancy is 74 years (72 years for men, 77 years for women) as of 2022. In Croatia, that number is 77 years (74 years for men, 81 years for women) as of 2022.

be 13.5% more likely to be obese

In Serbia, 21.5% of adults are obese as of 2016. In Croatia, that number is 24.4% of people as of 2016.

Economy

make 68.6% more money

Serbia has a GDP per capita of $24,500 as of 2023, while in Croatia, the GDP per capita is $41,300 as of 2023.

be 30.2% less likely to be unemployed

In Serbia, 8.7% of adults are unemployed as of 2023. In Croatia, that number is 6.1% as of 2023.

be 15.1% less likely to live below the poverty line

In Serbia, 21.2% live below the poverty line as of 2020. In Croatia, however, that number is 18.0% as of 2021.

pay a 3.1 times higher top tax rate

Serbia has a top tax rate of 15.0% as of 2017. In Croatia, the top tax rate is 47.2% as of 2016.

Life

be 50.0% less likely to die during childbirth

In Serbia, approximately 10.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Croatia, 5.0 women do as of 2020.

be 81.7% more likely to die during infancy

In Serbia, approximately 4.8 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Croatia, on the other hand, 8.7 children do as of 2022.

Expenditures

spend 10.3% less on healthcare

Serbia spends 8.7% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2020. In Croatia, that number is 7.8% of GDP as of 2020.

spend 52.8% more on education

Serbia spends 3.6% of its total GDP on education as of 2019. Croatia spends 5.5% of total GDP on education as of 2020.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: Croatia Tax Administration, The World Factbook, Ministry of Finance, Republic of Serbia.

Croatia: At a glance

Croatia is a sovereign country in Europe, with a total land area of approximately 55,974 sq km. The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal independent communist state under the strong hand of Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands, along with a majority of Croatia's ethnic Serb population. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998. The country joined NATO in April 2009 and the EU in July 2013.
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How big is Croatia compared to Serbia? See an in-depth size comparison.

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