In 2016, eight million books and brochures were borrowed, according to figures provided by the national statistical office (DZS).
Nearly two million newspapers and 1.5 million magazines could be read in the libraries in Croatia in 2016, , and newspapers and magazines accounted for 18% of the library materials.
Apart from borrowing books, the second most favourite activity in libraries is reading newspapers, and visitors can do it in 477 reading rooms within libraries.
As many as 266 libraries boast that they have multimedia departments, and 36% of libraries had WLAN connections in 2016.
A total of 22 libraries offer possibilities for the blind.
Every third Croatian resident (that is 1.3 million inhabitants) is a member of a library. The biggest portion of membership goes on school libraries (40.4%), followed by public libraries (39.5% of all library members).
Women read more than men
Broken down by gender, women account for 59% of library members.
The European Union statistical office Eurostat has also reported recently that reading books is more common among women.
"Social activities, like seeing friends, and cultural habits, such as going to concerts, also differ between women and men. Reading books was more common among women than among men in the EU (42 % of women and 31 % of men in 2013), as well as going to live performances, such as concerts (30 % of women and 27 % of men in 2015)," Eurostat says in its statistical portrait titled "The life of women and men".
Also, women make up a majority of employees in Croatian libraries, and as many as 83% of professional staff in those institutions were women in 2016.
The DZS also offers definitions of the type of library materials, Thus, book is a non-periodic printed publication of at least 49 pages, not including cover pages. Brochure is a non-periodic printed publication of at least 5 and not more than 48 pages, not including cover pages. Magazines are serial (periodic) publications intended for studies and documentary information from various areas. The processing of articles is conducted professionally and scientifically. Newspapers are serial (periodic) publications containing news of particular or general interest on current events. Individual parts are listed chronologically and numerically and tend to appear at least once a week.
Manuscripts are original handwritten or typewritten materials.