Regional Development Minister Branko Grcic said some municipalities and towns dropped from the list of assisted areas because in the 2001-2011 period, between two censuses, their population had gone up, which he said indicated higher development.
He added, however, that those were formerly war-hit areas and that the higher population was due to the return of refugees and displaced persons.
By correcting the development index, 25 local self-government units will be relisted as assisted areas.
Grcic said that under a new regional development law, assisted areas would comprise 264 local self-government units, including 99 listed as such for the first time, while 56 would be dropped from the list because they crossed the 75 per cent threshold of the national development average.