"Some say that Croatia is the Ireland of Southeast Europe," this demographer said at his lecture this past Wednesday on emigrations from Croatia, adding that those trends were prompted both by economic and historical factors.
He said that although there were no accurate figures on how many people had left Croatia in the past two decades, some figures of the State Statistical Bureau (DZS) indicate that "nearly 200,000 people, without a refugee contingent that is still outside Croatia," had emigrated.
As for the impact of Croatia's forthcoming entry into the European Union on the demographic trends in the country, the demographer said it was difficult to estimate the volume of migrations to be triggered off by Croatia's admission to the EU.
Emigration from Croatia will depend on both the economic situation in the EU and EU members' labour needs and on Croatia's economic situation and prospects, he explained.