Croatians abroad send €5.61 billion home: Top countries revealed

Zagreb

According to Eurostat, residents of the EU sent €51 billion to their home countries outside the EU in 2023, marking an 8% year-on-year increase.

Croatia remained the most financially dependent EU member state on private remittances and personal transfers from abroad in 2023.

As Večernji list writes, these transfers amounted to 7.2% of Croatia’s GDP, or €5.61 billion.

Private transfers include workers’ remittances, other forms of financial aid, wages from temporary employment abroad, and pensions paid from abroad to individuals residing in Croatia.

In the first half of 2023, private remittances totalled €2.98 billion, with €1.143 billion coming from Germany contributing to this amount, according to the Croatian National Bank (HNB).

In just one year, incoming remittances increased by €525 million compared to 2022.

Following Germany, Ireland ranked second, with €607 million in personal remittances sent to Croatia in 2023 (€323 million in the first half of the year), which is triple the amount recorded in 2019.

The Netherlands ranked third with €554 million in remittances—eight times the 2019 figure.

The new generation of migrants has maintained strong ties with their homeland, generously supporting family members back home.

Austria ranked fourth, with remittances totalling €436 million annually—three times the amount sent in 2019.

A significant sum also came from Slovenia, with €285 million sent in 2023, about €100 million more than in the pre-pandemic period.

Croatia’s reliance on foreign remittances is comparable to that of other former Yugoslav republics, which historically “exported” their populations throughout the 20th century.

Eurostat reports that remittances to Kosovo account for 17.5% of its GDP, 10% in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, 7.2% in Serbia (similar to Croatia), and 3% in North Macedonia.

Capital also flows in the opposite direction. With the increasing employment of foreign workers, Croatia has seen a rise in private remittances sent abroad, amounting to €1.4 billion in 2023—€330 million more than in 2022.

In the first half of 2023 alone, €787 million was sent out of Croatia, primarily to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Nepal, India, the Philippines, and North Macedonia.

Of this, €332 million was sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina, €150 million to Serbia, €89 million to Nepal, €70 million to North Macedonia, €61 million to India, and €58.5 million to the Philippines, Večernji list said.

The most significant increases in outward remittances in the first half of 2023 were to Nepal, India, and the Philippines. Between January and June, €71 million was sent to Nepal, and €45 million each to India and the Philippines. In total, €212 million was sent to eight Asian countries by foreign workers employed in Croatia during the first half of 2023.

Eurostat highlights that EU residents sent €51 billion to their home countries outside the EU in 2023, an 8% increase on the previous year.

The majority of transfers from Croatia, Greece, Spain, and Poland—ranging from 90% to 98%—were sent to non-EU countries.