The survey, carried out in December on a sample of 1,000 people above the age of 15, revealed that 38 per cent of citizens were concerned about international terrorism, 31 per cent about nuclear weapons and as many about crime and corruption.
Twenty-two per cent of respondents were concerned about religious and ethnic hatred, 20 per cent about unemployment, 18 per cent about AIDS and contagious diseases such as bird flu, 14 per cent about climate change, and 13 per cent about the gap between rich and poor.
At the bottom of the list of global threats were globalisation and environmental pollution, with four per cent of respondents expressing their concern about the former and ten about the latter.
As for the problems they were facing in Croatia, respondents were mostly concerned about low pay and pension benefits, which they ranked 4.4 on a scale of one (not concerned) to five (very concerned).
The next four problems were unemployment, crime, bribery and corruption, and low living standards, which were all given the same average ranking of 4.3.
Respondents were almost equally concerned about price rises (4.2) and economic stability (4.1), while social policy, ineffective governance and drug abuse shared an average ranking of 4.0.
The public health system received a ranking of 3.8, while AIDS and contagious diseases, politics and education, and environment protection shared a ranking of 3.7.
At the bottom of the list of threats were relations with neighbouring countries (3.2), and population policy and international relations, which shared a ranking of 3.4.