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1. Housing

2. Social services

3. Health care

4. Financial services

5. Quality assurance

Housing

Central State Office for Demography and Youth started a Pilot project - public call to local self-government units for financial support aimed at co-financing housing costs to young families and young people in 2023. The allocated funds for the pilot project are EUR 785.719,03. Based on the Decisions on subsidising the housing costs of students with private landlords, the housing costs of full-time students will be subsidised by the Central State Office. The funds are directed to students studying in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Pula, Varačdin, Čakovec, Koprivnica and Bjelovar. The housing costs of these students will be subsidised in the amount of EUR 248,86 per student for 2.206 full-time students, and funds in the amount of EUR 548,941.54 are foreseen for this purpose.

The Act on State-Subsidised Housing Construction was adopted with the aim of enabling citizens to solve their housing issues under terms significantly more favourable than those available on the market.

The right to purchase a flat from the Programme of State-Subsidised Housing Construction (POS) is available to all citizens of the Republic of Croatia, with the priority given to first-time buyers who have not yet resolved their housing issues. This means that they do not own housing that is adequately equipped with communal infrastructure (water, sewage) or that meets the hygienic-technical conditions for healthy housing. These conditions typically include 35 square meters of usable area for one person, and 10 square meters for each additional person. Amendments to the Act allowed the leasing of flats built under the POS scheme with the option to purchase the property to fulfil housing needs.

The Act on Housing Loan Subsidies regulates the subsidising of housing loans with the aim of promoting demographic renewal of society, urban regeneration of settlements, reducing emigration among young families, and assisting citizens. Citizens obtain loans from credit institutions to purchase a flat or house and/or for the construction of a house to address their housing issues. Requests for loan subsidies can be made through a public notice announced by the Agency for Transactions and Mediation in Immovable Property. Loan subsidies are secured in the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia.

Subsidies may be granted to a citizen who is a resident in the Republic of Croatia, qualifies for a housing loan established by a credit institution, and is not older than 45 years at the time of submitting an application. The basic requirement is that the applicant, or their spouse or partner, life partner, or informal life partner, does not own a flat or house or owns only one, intending to sell it for the purchase of a larger flat or house and/or for house construction due to the need for one’s own housing.

The Act on Housing Loan Subsides allows for additional subsidies if, for example, the applicant or a family member has a disability, or if the family size increases during the expected subsidising period due to the birth or adoption of a child. 

In the context of education, the Ministry of Science and Education (MSE) is responsible for the system of pupils' boarding homes and students' dormitories. The Ordinance on Conditions and Manner of Exercising Rights of Full-time Students to Subsidised Housing outlines the right to subsidised accommodation in students’ dormitories, pupils’ boarding homes, and subsidised accommodation for students residing with private landlords.

An additional novelty is that university students have the right to subsidised housing with a private landlord. Quotas for the number of subsidies in a specific town are determined by the MSE based on the number of students who study in that location and whose residence is not in the place of study. The monthly fee is €26.54 (HRK 200.00). The monetary compensation for subsidised housing in a student dormitory, as well as for subsidised housing with a private landlord, is determined by the MSE in a special decision, in accordance with the available funds in the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia.

Pupils' boarding homes are educational institutions at the secondary education level, which, as a part of their educational services, provide accommodation and meals for students during their attendance at secondary education. Pupils' boarding homes annually publish a contest for admission of pupils into the boarding home, in which they publicly announce the number of vacancies and conditions for admission for the next school year. If more pupils apply than the number of available places, the pupils’ boarding home makes a selection based on the established points. Particular family, health, and social circumstances enable students to accumulate more points. For example, a higher score is achieved by a student living with one or both parents with a long-term illness, a student who lives with a long-term unemployed parents, a student living with a single parent, or a recipient of social welfare.

Accommodation in students’ dormitories is awarded through a public tender. Student centres issue a public call for tenders for student accommodation and a public tender for granting housing subsidies each new academic year. The point-based system comprises points derived from the average grade and academic performance, with additional points awarded based on socio-economic status. For example, additional points are assigned to a student with one parent who is deceased, missing, or unknown, a student who has a sibling of preschool age or in full-time education, a student who has a sibling with developmental disabilities preventing full-time education, provided they live in a common household. Additional points are also awarded to a students whose parents are divorced or living in a single-parent household, a student with one or both parents having a 100% disability, a student with a disability in 6th-10th category (10%-50% of bodily harm), students whose common household is a beneficiary of the minimum income allowance, and students with low monthly income per member of the common household. The right to direct accommodation is granted to students whose both parents are deceased, missing, or unknown, students who were placed in social care centres or foster homes until the age of 18, and students with disabilities (50% of disability or more).

Social services

A social services system specifically focused on young people is not established. Young people can exercise their rights under the general social welfare system. According to the Social Welfare Act , social welfare is an organised activity of public interest for the Republic of Croatia. The aim is to provide assistance to socially deprived individuals, as well as individuals in unfavourable personal or domestic circumstances. This encompasses prevention, help, and support for individuals, families, and groups, with the aim of improving the quality of life, encouraging changes, and empowering beneficiaries for their active inclusion in the social community.

Rights in the social welfare system under the Social Welfare Act include: guaranteed minimum social assistance benefit, housing allowance, compensation for the vulnerable buyer of energy products, compensation for personal needs, , one-time assistance, compensation for funeral expenses, education-related allowances, personal disability allowance, assistance and care allowance, parent caregiver status or caregiver status, .

Social welfare users are:

• individuals living in a household with insufficient resources to meet basic living needs and are unable to attain them through their work, income, property, or in another way
• orphans or children without appropriate parental care, , child victims of domestic, peer, or other violence, child victims of trafficking, children of early and preschool age with developmental deviations or at developmental risk, children with disabilities, children with behavioural problems, unaccompanied minors who are outside their place of residence without parental supervision or another adult responsible for their care, and children who are foreign citizens found in the territory of the Republic of Croatia without parental supervision or another adult responsible for their care
• younger adults and younger adults with behavioural problems
• persons who were beneficiaries of the right to accommodation or organised housing and need to be provided with housing as long as the need lasts or at the latest until the age of 26
• pregnant women or parents of a child younger than one year without family support and appropriate living conditions
• families that need professional or other support due to disturbed relationships or other unfavourable circumstances
• disabled adults who are not able to meet basic living needs
• adult victims of domestic or other violence and victims of human trafficking
• individuals who, due to age or helplessness, cannot independently care about their basic living needs
• individuals with addiction to alcohol, narcotics, gambling, or other types of addiction
• homeless individuals
• other individuals fulfilling the conditions prescribed by the Social Welfare Act

In the context of social inclusion, an important process implemented by the former Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy is the deinstitutionalisation and transformation of homes for children and young people. Children and young people placed in homes for those without adequate parental care and homes for those with behavioural problems (referred to as accommodation as a form of institutional care) are provided with alternative forms of accommodation and care (non-institutional care) along with inclusion in community life. The placement of children and young people without adequate parental care and those with behavioural problems in homes is avoided by providing non-institutional services and community support services (out-of-institutional care).

Parallel to deinstitutionalisation, the process of transforming homes is undertaken. Homes and other legal entities engaged in social welfare activities in the Republic of Croatia are encouraged to provide non-institutional social services aligned with the needs of community users. The goal is for these entities to become ‘homes transformed into community service providers in all counties, according to the needs of users’.

The main goal is to empower children's families, provide support in the development of parenting skills, and enable the child to live in a family environment (primary, foster, or adoptive family). By implementing these processes, social, educational, cultural, material, and other conditions for inclusion of users – children and young people without proper parental care and those with behavioural problems – in community life are created.

Health care

Details on youth health care can be found in the Chapter 7: Health and Well-Being.

Financial services

Within the system of education, administering state scholarships is within the competence of the MSE. One of the scholarship categories refers to socioeconomic status. 

The Ordinance on the Conditions and Procedures Regulating the Right to State Scholarships Based on Socioeconomic Status  defines three categories of scholarships:

• students who are children of the killed, deceased, and missing, under the circumstances laid down in articles 6, 7, and 8 of the Act on the Protection of Disabled Civil and Military War Victims. Additionally, children of military and war victims whose disability occurred under the circumstances specified in the mentioned articles are also eligible
• students of a low socio-economic status
• students with disability and those without adequate parental care, enrolled in postgraduate study programmes

The Call for the award of scholarships for school/academic year 2023/2024 has been announced by the MSE. 

The right to a scholarship during full-time secondary education, full-time university and professional study, as well as partial compensation for tuition costs of postgraduate studies at higher education institutions from this Fund, may, under certain conditions, be eligible for the following categories:

• children of the mortally wounded Croatian war veterans from the Homeland War
• children of detained or missing Croatian war veterans
• children of Croatian war veterans from the Homeland War
• war volunteers from the Homeland War

According to the Act on ‘Croatia for Children’ Foundation , founded by the Republic of Croatia, one of the foundation’s supports is the granting of scholarships to pupils and students during full-time schooling.

Quality assurance

No specific quality assurance scheme exists in this field.