Quality of life comparison

compared to

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

Health

live 5.5 years less

In Sweden, the average life expectancy is 83 years (81 years for men, 85 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 18.4% more likely to be obese

In Sweden, 20.6% of adults are obese as of 2016. In Croatia, that number is 24.4% of people as of 2016.

Economy

be 20.2% less likely to be unemployed

In Sweden, 7.6% of adults are unemployed as of 2023. In Croatia, that number is 6.1% as of 2023.

pay a 17.3% lower top tax rate

Sweden has a top tax rate of 57.1% as of 2016. In Croatia, the top tax rate is 47.2% as of 2016.

make 35.7% less money

Sweden has a GDP per capita of $64,200 as of 2023, while in Croatia, the GDP per capita is $41,300 as of 2023.

be 11.8% more likely to live below the poverty line

In Sweden, 16.1% live below the poverty line as of 2022. In Croatia, however, that number is 18.0% as of 2021.

Life

be 3.8 times more likely to die during infancy

In Sweden, approximately 2.3 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.

have 20.6% fewer children

In Sweden, there are approximately 10.7 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Croatia, there are 8.5 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

Expenditures

spend 23.6% less on education

Sweden spends 7.2% of its total GDP on education as of 2020. Croatia spends 5.5% of total GDP on education as of 2020.

spend 31.6% less on healthcare

Sweden spends 11.4% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2020. In Croatia, that number is 7.8% of GDP as of 2020.

Geography

see 81.3% more coastline

Sweden has a total of 3,218 km of coastline. In Croatia, that number is 5,835 km.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: Croatia Tax Administration, The World Factbook, Skatteverket.

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 Sweden? See an in-depth size comparison.

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