The Economic Strength Index is the sum of three-year average weighted basic economic indicators and takes into account demographic projections. Values above 100 mean that a county is above the national average, while those below 100 indicate that a county is below the national average.
The index is calculated based on six economic indicators: GDP per capita, corporate revenue per employee, average net wage per employee, corporate net profit per employee, corporate foreign revenue per employee, and the unemployment rate, as well as projected changes in the number of population in 2011-2021.
This year's index reveals considerable differences in the development of the counties. The Economic Strength Index is 149.3 for for the City of Zagreb, 127.2 for Istria County and 105.1 for Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. At the bottom of the ranking are Pozega-Slavonia County (68.5), Virovitica-Podravina County (68.2) and Bjelovar-Bilogora County (66.9).
There have been no major changes since last year, although some of the counties changed their position in the ranking. The greatest change was observed in Osijek-Baranja County, which moved up from 15th place in 2016 to 12th in 2017.
The HGK believes that increasing regional competitiveness may reduce the likelihood of population emigration, which along with ageing will be a major problem in the future. In the counties with lower indices the focus should be on economic development to reduce development differences among the counties, the HGK said.