The Economic Advisory Council in the Office the President on Friday conducted a thematic meeting on the "Democratic situation and prospects" stating that demography was a strategic issue for society and that it was urgent to embark on pro-natal policies to overturn negative trends of the depopulation of the country.
This issue requires political consensus of all relevant factors, Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said. He added that for the past two decades, Croatia was losing its population and that an appropriate solution had not been found yet.
Demography is a key issue with regard to the country's development, Josipovic emphasised expressing hope that the Sabor would soon put this issue on its agenda.
Academic Alica Wertheimer Baletić warned that Croatia's population had been decreasing for some time now and that the country would soon be hit with a new wave of emigration of highly-educated working-age persons. This will increase the portion of aged people in the population in the country.
Demographic figures show that Croatia lost 2.65 mln people in the 20th century and that the portion of those aged over 65 in the total population was growing by 1.5 percent each year, demographer Jakov Gelo reported.
He added that Croatia was following trends that were similarly seen in other former Eastern bloc countries whereas old EU member countries showed a significant growth in their population numbers and that unfortunately it appeared this trend was going to continue.
