Zagreb (IKA) – In Croatia, 15.5% of the population consider themselves to be poor, and 12.6% believe that their households are living in poverty despite all monthly income. These are the preliminary results of a project by Croatian Caritas and the Center for the Promotion of the Social Doctrine of the Church of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, “Monitoring Poverty in Croatia,” which were presented in Zagreb. The study was conducted during March and April of this year on a group of 1,216 adult citizens of the Republic of Croatia, divided into 6 regions. When asked whether the citizens of Croatia live above their means, 53.5% responded that they do. Only 10% of the subjects stated that they save significantly. The results of the study showed wealth is the most highly esteemed quality in Croatia (46.8%), followed by success (34.4%) and health (30%), while the lowest ranking are self-education (1%), compassion (1.1%) and readiness to help others (2.2%). Regarding the question of entry into the European Union, somewhat more than half of the subjects (56%) stated that entry into Europe is for the general good of Croatia, while 27.6% expressed the opposite opinion. The results of this study revealed an exceptionally low level of confidence in the key government institutions such as the cabinet (19.3%), parliament (16.6%) and the judiciary system (17.2%). When asked what predominates in the Croatian society, 80.9% of the subjects responded that it is the pursuit of personal interests, while 6.2% of the subjects responded that it is working for the general good. According to the results of the study, 85% of the subjects stated that Sunday should be a non-working day in Croatia, while 8% stated that it should be a working day.

During the project, nine risk groups were detected that can fall into poverty, and in Croatia these are the unemployed, elderly persons without pensions, persons with low educational backgrounds, single parents, families with many children, debtors, inhabitants of rural areas, employed persons with low incomes and young persons who have left school too early. Group interviews with five to nine of the stated risk groups showed that those with low educational backgrounds are in the most difficult position, especially regarding persons over 45 to 50 years of age.