WIIW The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies - Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche

Croatia has been a traditional migration country for decades. During the past several years the number of Croatian migrants in the EU-15 has been stagnant or even slightly declining. Croatia's migration balance has been positive in the past ten years, but flows have been politically motivated to some extent, since most inflows and outflows are related to the return of persons after the war. Due to the emerging shortages in some sectors and/or skills, labour migration to Croatia has been growing in recent years. Most migrants come from the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, in particular Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia, and work in the construction, shipbuilding and tourism sectors. Though calculations on the potential migration flows after a future EU accession are missing, it can be assumed that the numbers will be small, even taking into account those Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina with a double citizenship.