These are conclusions of Wednesday's presentation of the World Bank's report called "Croatia Living Standards Assessments" with the focus on the promotion of social inclusion and regional equity in the country.
The report was presented in Zagreb by the World Bank Director for Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania, Anand Seth, and bank expert, Salman Zaidi.
The latter said that in the last decade Croatia's economy had been rather successful. However, job creation in Croatia lagged behind Gross Domestic Product and wage growth, as a result of which many of the poor could not feel advantages from the economic growth, Zaidi said.
In 2004, about 11 percent of Croatian inhabitants were below the poverty line.
"The groups in Croatia that tend to be poor are the elderly and less educated, and many lack access to basic services such as running water and telephones. Poverty varies widely across regions, from less than 3 percent in Zagreb to over 20 percent in the rural Central and Eastern regions. However, the poverty is relatively shallow, with most of the poor not living far below the poverty line. The poor also depend a great deal on state support for their income - about 57 percent, as compared with 31 percent for the non-poor.," according to a statement on the World Bank's website.
The Bank's director for Croatia, Anand Seth, has said that in a country such as Croatia poverty should not be a topic of talks at all. In Croatia the poverty exists not because of a lack of means and funds but owing to ineffective allocation of those means, he said.
Addressing the presentation conference in the Dubrovnik Hotel, the head of the European Commission Delegation, Vincent Degert, said the Croatian Government had been focused on education and employment in its efforts to improve living standards.
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, under whose auspices today's event was held, believes that the improvement of living standards is of vital importance for Croatia's social and economic development.