The median age in Croatia is 42, and it may happen that there will be no one to fill newly-created jobs, Mrsic said on Thursday while presenting a project called "SHARE - Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe".
It is the duty of public institutions to ensure a dignified life and social inclusion for the elderly, Mrsic said, adding that he is in favour of basic state pension for those above 65 who have not earned pensions under other schemes and who have no possessions.
The SHARE survey, which is to research ageing in Croatia, is to help Croatia adopt efficient measures to alleviate the consequences of an increasingly ageing population and contribute to enhancing the quality of life of senior citizens.
When we get the findings, we will have a better insight into what is going on in the segment of senior citizens, the minister said.
The SHARE survey is a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of micro data on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks of approximately 110,000 individuals (more than 220,000 interviews) from a score of European countries (+ Israel) aged 50 or older.
The project, funded by the European Commission, was launched in 2004, and Croatia joined it this year, the head of the project in Croatia, Sime Smolic, said at the presentation.
The survey will be conducted in Croatia until the end of May 2016, and will cost some HRK 1.2 million.