The state secretary of the demography and family ministry, Marin Strmota, spoke of the measures which the ministry had taken such as higher maternity benefits, however, he warned that the issue could be solved only through concerted action of all components in the society.
Strmota believes that absence of higher economic growth and better living standards were reasons for a large-scale emigration to date.
Nenad Pokos, a researcher from the Ivo Pilar institute, spoke about depopulation and mentioned that in 2015, there were 16,702 more deaths than the number of births Croatia, and 2017 is likely to have worse statistics in that regard.
He presented data about a negative population growth of -7.1% in the period from 1991 to 2011.
Tado Juric, a historian and a lecturer at the Catholic University of Croatia, believes that pessimism and lack of prospects are major reasons for emigration of young Croats.
In addition, Croat families that emigrated in the past and returned to Croatia in the late 1990s again easily decide to leave again for western and central European countries, Juric said.
He presented findings of an online survey conducted among 1,200 Croatians who have moved to Germany in the recent years, showing that a majority of them plan to live actually between Germany and their homeland.
Juric and some other lecturers also warned about a wrong perception that everything is much better abroad than at home.
German migrations expert Marcus Engler said that in 2016, as many as 441,000 Croatian nationals lived in Germany.