Presenting them recently, deputy mayor Olivera Majic said this year's social picture of Zagreb underlined the importance of raising public awareness of the needs and problems of international protection seekers, asylum seekers and persons under subsidiary protection. It also underlines the importance of supporting the work of civil society organisations which service vulnerable households, she added.
The most evident social development challenges in Zagreb refer to employment, notably youth employment, said Gojko Bezovan, professor of social policy at Zagreb's Law School.
Emphasis has been put on including the city in integration programmes for people aged 15 to 25 who are not in education, employment, or training so that they can acquire vocational education, and on the development of cooperation between the city and civil society associations and institutions in order to draw European Union funds for the vocational education of socially excluded youth, he added.
Zagreb had 802,338 inhabitants in 2016, an increase of 1.56% compared to 2015. It had a positive net migration rate among counties, while the negative net migration rate of citizens moving abroad decreased in relation to 2015.
The ageing index went up 8.8% to 127.7 in 2016. In 2011, during the latest population census, it stood at 118.9%. The age coefficient is rising by the year, reaching 25.2% in 2016.
In 2016, there were 8,120 births and 8,528 deaths. Although population growth was -0.5, it was still an improvement on 2015, when it stood at -1.0. The vital index in 2016 was 95.2%.
Although the nuptiality rate mildly increased from 2015, the divorce rate was above the national average. In 2016, 441.9 in 1,000 marriages in Zagreb and 278.3 elsewhere in Croatia ended in divorce.
After Istria County, Zagreb had the lowest county unemployment rate (7%) this year. The national average was 15%. The average monthly pay in Zagreb was HRK 6,438 in 2015 and HRK 6,575 in 2016.
The leading causes of death in Zagreb in 2015 were cardiovascular diseases (44.8%) and cancer (27.9%).