First Release

Year: LVIII.
Zagreb, 26 February 2021
PSZ-2021-3-1

ISSN 1334-0557

SOCIAL PROTECTION IN REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, 2019

(ESSPROS METHODOLOGY)

In 2019, the share of social protection in the GDP of the Republic of Croatia amounted to 21.8%, which represented an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to 2018. The GDP in current prices increased1) by approximately 17 billion kuna, while total social protection expenditures increased by approximately 4.3 billion kuna.

Concerning receipts, social contributions were the most frequent ones (60.1% of all social protection receipts in 2019). General government contributions followed with 36.1%.

Social protection benefits accounted for 98.2% of total social protection expenditures in 2019. By type of social benefits, those in cash were the most frequent ones (64.2%). By characteristics, non-means-tested social protection benefits (both in cash and in kind) were the most frequent ones (95.0%).

Comparing the data by social protection functions, the largest share of social benefits was spent on relieving the financial burden related to the Old age risk (34.5% of all social protection benefits), followed by the Sickness/Health care function (33.8%). The least resources were spent on the Housing function (0.1%).

Comparing the data on the share of costs for the social protection in the national GDP with the EU Member States, the Republic of Croatia fell behind the EU-28 average by 5.9 percentage points in 2018. Viewed by shares of social protection functions in GDP in 2018, the Old-age function fell behind the EU-28 average by 3.6 percentage points, the Sickness/Health care function by 0.8, the Unemployment and Housing functions by 0.5 each and the Family/Children and Social exclusion function by 0.3 percentage points each, while the Survivors function exceeded the EU-28 average by 0.4 and the Disability function by 0.2 percentage points.

Comparing the data on social protection expenditures per inhabitant with EU Member States, calculated in purchasing power standard (PPS), the Republic of Croatia fell behind the EU-28 average by 50% in 2018. According to this indicator, expenditure on Survivors function was on the same level as EU average, while the other social protection functions in the Republic of Croatia were below the EU average, and in absolute terms, the Old-age function fell behind the most.

1) The data on the gross domestic product used in this First Release have been taken over from the official web page of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics: https://www.dzs.hr/Hrv_Eng/Pokazatelji/MSI%20BRUTO%20DOMACI%20PROIZVOD.xlsx.

 

1. TOTAL SOCIAL PROTECTION EXPENDITURES AND EXPENDITURES ON SOCIAL PROTECTION BENEFITS, BY FUNCTION AND ESSPROS SCHEMES

                     Mln kuna

   2017. 2018. 2019.
Total social protection expenditures 79 144,81) 83 308,11) 87 637,5
Total expenditures on social protection benefits, by function 77 817,51) 81 869,81) 86 102,2
Sickness/Health care 25 867,41) 27 418,21) 29 101,7
Disability 8 201,51) 8 475,31) 8 610,7
Old age 26 179,71) 27 856,01) 29 706,5
Survivors 6 754,7 6 948,1 7 095,6
Family/Children 6 816,61) 7 475,31) 7 875,7
Unemployment 2 679,81) 2 420,51) 2 384,4
Housing 77,11) 64,21) 76,4
Social exclusion not elsewhere classified 1 240,81) 1 212,31) 1 251,2
Administrative costs 1 192,31) 1 303,91) 1 399,6
Other expenditures 134,9 134,4 135,7
By ESSPROS schemes      
Total expenditures on social protection benefits, by ESSPROS schemes 77 817,51) 81 869,81) 86 102,2
Job mediation and unemployment rights 1 608,01) 1 440,71) 1 348,9
Pension insurance, first pillar 37 670,9 39 246,6 40 898,2
Pension insurance, second pillar 3,5 5,2 50,9
Basic health insurance 22 447,2 23 609,3 25 075,6
Supplemental health insurance 1 744,1 1 811,3 1 867,6
Health protection at work 284,8 272,4 292,5
Employers’ social protection2) 3 898,7 4 258,7 4 497,0
Social welfare rights 2 851,61) 2 995,11) 3 137,0
Assistance in settling of housing costs 72,2 59,3 71,6
Assistance in settling of heating costs 38,3 40,7 28,6
Family benefits 2 663,2 2 858,7 2 949,8
Social welfare in City of Zagreb 1427,8 1 500,91) 1 602,1
Rights of Croatian Homeland war defenders and members of their families 633,1 758,51) 776,6
Rights of civilian victims disabled during war and members of their families 26,2 26,7 25,3
Rights of military personnel disabled during war or peace-time period and members of their families 64,5 59,1 52,0
Other social assistance at the local level2) 1 862,4 2 340,31) 2 577,3
Social protection provided by non-profit institutions2) 521,21) 586,41) 851,3

1) Revised data.
2) Estimated data.

Revision of data

Data for the period from 2016 to 2018 have been revised due to the inclusion of  new non-profit institutions in the ESSPROS survey coverage (Social protection provided by non-profit institutions), inclusion of new social benefits in several ESSPROS schemes and collecting the additional data on EU funds used for financing various social services. Data collected in the ESSPROS survey could be subject to revisions in the future due to finding new data sources, improvements in the usage of existing data sources or further harmonisation of data with the ESSPROS methodology.

Pension insurance, first pillar

The increase in total expenditures in this scheme in 2019, as compared to 2018, was mainly caused by an increase in expenditures in the Old age function due to the growth of the old-age and anticipated old-age pensions. The increase in expenditure was also recorded in the Survivors function due to the growth of survivors’ pensions.

Basic health insurance

The main reason for the increase in scheme expenditures in 2019, as compared to 2018, was an increase in expenditures on in-patient medical care. The increase was also recorded in out-patient medical care, salary compensation during sick-leave and maternity leave as well as medicine expenditures.

Employers’ social protection

The increase in total expenditures in this scheme in 2019, as compared to 2018, was mainly caused by an increase in expenditures in the Sickness/Health care function In 2019, as compared to 2018, the number of days spent on sick leave paid by the employer (up to 42 days of sick leave) increased, which was the main cause of the increase in salary compensation during sick leave. The increase in expenditure was also recorded in the Family/Children function due to the growth of lump-sum cash benefits, and in the Unemployment function due to increase of the redundancy compensation.

Social welfare

The main cause of the increase in the scheme expenditures in 2019, as compared to 2018, was the increase in expenditures in the Disability function that refer to personal disability benefit, assistance and care supplement and the accommodation of persons with disability in social welfare homes.

Family benefits

The main cause of the increase in the scheme expenditures in 2019, as compared to 2018, was the increase in expenditures in the Family/Children function that refer to parental leave and other maternity and parental supports, and to child allowance.

Social protection in City of Zagreb

The main cause of the increase in the scheme expenditures in 2019, as compared to 2018, was the increase in expenditures in the Family/Children function that refer to subsidy for stay-at-home parent and expenditure for pre-school education.

Other social assistance at the local level

The main cause of the increase in the scheme expenditures in 2019, as compared to 2018, was the increase in expenditures in the Old age function that refer to assistance in carrying out daily tasks (mostly EU grants) and in the Family/Children function that refer to the expenditures on pre-school institutions and birth grants.

Social protection provided by non-profit institutions

The main cause of the increase in the scheme expenditures in 2019, as compared to 2018, was the increase in expenditures in the Old age and Disability functions that refer to assistance in carrying out daily tasks (mostly EU grants) and in the Social exclusion function that refer to the other benefits in kind.

2. SHARE OF EACH FUNCTION IN TOTAL AMOUNT OF SOCIAL PROTECTION BENEFITS

%

   2017.1) 2018.1) 2019. EU-28 u 2018.2)
Total expenditures on social protection benefits 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0
Sickness/Health care 33,2 33,5 33,8 29,7
Disability 10,5 10,4 10,0 7,5
Old age 33,6 34,0 34,5 40,8
Survivors 8,7 8,5 8,2 5,3
Family/Children 8,8 9,1 9,1 8,5
Unemployment 3,4 3,0 2,8 4,2
Housing 0,1 0,1 0,1 1,9
Social exclusion not elsewhere classified 1,6 1,5 1,5 2,3

1) Revised data.
2) Data for the EU-28 were taken over from the table Expenditure on social protection, available on Eurostat's official web page https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/social-protection/data/main-tables on 15 February 2021. Data for the Republic of Croatia, indicated in this table, have been revised in the meantime (revised data are used in this First Release) and they will be updated in accordance with the standard Eurostat’s procedure.

G-1. EXPENDITURES ON SOCIAL PROTECTION BENEFITS, BY FUNCTION

3. SHARE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION EXPENDITURES AND EXPENDITURES ON SOCIAL PROTECTION BENEFITS IN GDP

%

   2017.1) 2018.1) 2019. EU-28 u 2018.2)
Total social protection expenditures 21,5 21,6 21,8 27,5
Total expenditures on social protection benefits, by function 21,2 21,2 21,4 26,5
Sickness/Health care 7,0 7,1 7,2 7,9
Disability 2,2 2,2 2,1 2,0
Old age 7,1 7,2 7,4 10,8
Survivors 1,8 1,8 1,8 1,4
Family/Children 1,9 1,9 2,0 2,2
Unemployment 0,7 0,6 0,6 1,1
Housing 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,5
Social exclusion not elsewhere classified 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,6

1) Revised data.
2) Data for the EU-28 were taken over from the table Expenditure on social protection, available on Eurostat's official web page https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/social-protection/data/main-tables on 15 February 2021. Data for the Republic of Croatia, indicated in this table, have been revised in the meantime (revised data are used in this First Release) and they will be updated in accordance with the standard Eurostat’s procedure.

G-2. SHARE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION EXPENDITURES AND EXPENDITURES FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION BENEFITS IN GDP

4. SOCIAL PROTECTION EXPENDITURES AS SHARE OF GDP, EU-28 AND REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, 20181)

 

   Social protection expenditures as share of GDP
Croatia 21,6
EU-28 27,5
Ireland 14,2
Romania 15,0
Latvia 15,2
Malta 15,2
Lithuania 15,8
Estonia 16,4
Bulgaria 16,9
Hungary 17,4
Slovakia 18,0
Cyprus 18,1
Czech Republic 18,5
Poland 19,7
Slovenia 22,0
Luxembourg 22,6
Spain 23,5
Portugal 24,0
Greece 25,3
United Kingdom 25,7
Sweden 28,3
Belgium 28,7
Italy 28,8
Netherlands 28,9
Austria 29,1
Germany 29,6
Finland 30,1
Denmark 31,4
France 33,7

1) Data for the EU-28 and individual EU Member States were taken over from the table Expenditure on social protection, available on Eurostat's official web page https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/social-protection/data/main-tables on 15 February 2021. Data for the Republic of Croatia, indicated in this table, have been revised in the meantime (revised data are used in this First Release) and they will be updated in accordance with the standard Eurostat’s procedure.

G-3. SHARE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION EXPENDITURES IN GDP, EU-28 AND REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, 2018

5. SOCIAL PROTECTION EXPENDITURES PER INHABITANT, CALCULATED IN PURCHASING POWER STANDARD (PPS), EU-28 AND REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, 20181)

Thousand PPS

   Social protection expenditures (PPS) PPS per inhabitant (EU-28 = 100)
Croatia 4,3 50
EU-28 8,6 100
Bulgaria 2,9 34
Romania 3,3 38
Latvia 3,3 38
Hungary 4,1 48
Slovakia 4,1 48
Lithuania 4,2 49
Estonia 4,2 49
Malta 4,7 55
Poland 4,7 55
Cyprus 5,0 59
Greece 5,2 61
Czech Republic 5,6 65
Portugal 5,7 66
Slovenia 5,8 68
Spain 6,5 75
Ireland 7,3 85
United Kingdom 7,9 93
Italy 8,4 98
Sweden 10,1 118
Belgium 10,2 120
Finland 10,4 121
France 11,1 130
Austria 11,2 131
Netherlands 11,3 132
Germany 11,6 136
Denmark 11,9 139
Luxembourg 16,0 187

1) Data were taken over from Eurostat's official web page: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/social-protection/data/main-tables on 15 February 2021.

G-4. SOCIAL PROTECTION EXPENDITURES PER INHABITANT, CALCULATED IN PURCHASING POWER STANDARD, EU-28 AND REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, 2018

6. SOCIAL PROTECTION EXPENDITURES PER INHABITANT, EU-28 AND REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, BY SOCIAL PROTECTION FUNCTIONS, CALCULATED IN PURCHASING POWER STANDARD (PPS), 20181)

Thousand PPS

   Social protection expenditures per inhabitant in the Republic of Croatia (PPS) Social protection expenditures per inhabitant (PPS), EU-28
Total social protection expenditures 4,3 8,6
Total expenditures on social protection benefits 4,2 8,2
Sickness/Health care 1,4 2,4
Disability 0,4 0,6
Old age 1,4 3,4
Survivors 0,4 0,4
Family/Children 0,4 0,7
Unemployment 0,1 0,3
Housing 0,0 0,2
Social exclusion not elsewhere classified 0,1 0,2

1) Data were taken over from Eurostat's official web page http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/social-protection/data/main-tables on 15 February 2021.

G-5. SOCIAL PROTECTION EXPENDITURES PER INHIBITANT, EU-28 AND REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, BY SOCIAL PROTECTION FUNCTIONS, CALCULATED IN PURCHASING POWER STANDARD (PPS), 2018

7. TOTAL NUMBER OF PENSION BENEFICIARIES, BY SOCIAL PROTECTION FUNCTIONS AND SEX

   2017. 2018. 2019.
Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men Women
Total number of pension beneficiaries 1 232 651 563 957 668 694 1 236 258 566 071 670 187 1 241 111 570 961 670 150
Total number of pension beneficiaries in Disability function 148 445 123 250 25 195 138 253 115 886 22 367 126 739 107 145 19 594
Disability pension beneficiaries1) 148 445 123 250 25 195 138 253 115 886 22 367 126 739 107 145 19 594
Total number of pension beneficiaries in Old age function 843 090 424 076 419 014 859 451 433 667 425 784 877 884 447 322 430 562
Old-age pension beneficiaries2) 656 501 329 058 327 443 665 959 336 240 329 719 678 852 348 002 330 850
Anticipated old-age pension beneficiaries 186 589 95 018 91 571 193 492 97 427 96 065 199 032 99 320 99 712
Total number of pension beneficiaries in Survivors function 240 888 16 494 224 394 238 269 16 350 221 919 236 171 16 302 219 869
Survivors' pension beneficiaries 240 888 16 494 224 394 238 269 16 350 221 919 236 171 16 302 219 869
Total number of pension beneficiaries in Unemployment function 228 137 91 285 168 117 317 192 125
Beneficiaries of anticipated old-age pensions due to bankruptcy of beneficiary’s employer 228 137 91 285 168 117 317 192 125

1) Covering disability pension beneficiaries bellow the legal retirement age (65 years for men and 60 years for women, irrespective of the transitional period). Beneficiaries above the legal retirement age are presented in line with the ESSPROS methodology, under the item Old-age pension beneficiaries.
2) Including also disability pension beneficiaries above the legal retirement age (65 years for men and 60 years for women, irrespective of the transitional period).

G-6. PENSION BENEFICIARIES, BY TYPE OF PENSION

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Sources and methods of data collection

Data on social protection in the Republic of Croatia presented in this First Release are collected by gathering administrative data from reporting units.

Coverage and comparability

The ESSPROS is a harmonised system that serves as an instrument of the analysis and comparison of financial flows of the social protection. The objectives of the ESSPROS are to provide a comprehensive and coherent description of the social protection in the EU Member States and candidate states for the membership in the European Union, financing of social benefits, and to establish a system suitable for the international comparability and harmonisation with other statistics.

The ESSPROS consists of the Core System and two modules. The Core System consists of a stable, annually collected set of data on receipts and expenditures of the social protection, while modules provide additional sets of statistical information on particular forms of the social protection.

The Core System collects, at the annual basis, data on the social protection in gross amounts (that is, before the recipient of the social protection benefit pays for them any kind of taxes, contributions or other compulsory provisions).

For the Republic of Croatia, 17 active social protection schemes have been identified and included within the ESSPROS coverage:

Active schemes

  1. Job mediation and unemployment rights
  2. Pension insurance – first pillar
  3. Health insurance – basic
  4. Health insurance – supplemental (for the time being only the Croatian Health Insurance Fund)
  5. Familiy benefits
  6. Social welfare
  7. Assistance in settling of housing costs
  8. Assistance in settling of heating costs
  9. Social welfare in City of Zagreb
  10. Employers’ social protection
  11. Pension insurance – second pillar
  12. Rights of Croatian Homeland War defenders and members of their families
  13. Health protection at work
  14. Rights of civilian victims disabled during war and members of their families
  15. Rights of military personnel disabled during war or peacetime period and members of their families
  16. Other social assistance at the local level
  17. Social protection provided by non-profit institutions

ESSPROS Scheme 2 (General pension scheme – first pillar) encompases all pension beneficiaries under special regulations.

The module on pension beneficiaries serves to collect information on pension beneficiaries and on characteristics of pensions.

Definitions and explanations

Social protection encompasses all interventions of public or private bodies intended to relieve households and individuals of the financial burden of the defined set of risks or needs, provided that there is neither a simultaneous reciprocal nor an individual arrangement involved (intervention where the recipient of social protection is obliged to provide simultaneously something of equivalent value in exchange).

Risks or needs expressed in the ESSPROS methodology as functions of the social protection scheme that require the social protection are listed below.

Sickness/Health care – the risk of sickness comprises the maintenance of the income and support in cash in connection with a physical or mental illness, excluding disability. The health care need covers maintenance, restoration or improvement of the health of the people protected, irrespective of the origin of the disorder.

Disability covers support in cash or kind (except health care) in connection with the inability of physically or mentally disabled people to engage in economic and social activities.

Old age includes income maintenance and support in cash or kind (except health care) in connection with old age.

Survivors imply income maintenance and support in cash or kind in connection with the death of a family member.

Family/Children include support in cash or kind (except health care) in connection with the costs of pregnancy, childbirth and adoption, bringing up children and caring for other family members.

Unemployment implies income maintenance and support in cash or kind in connection with unemployment.

Housing includes assistance in settling of housing costs.

Social exclusion not elsewhere classified covers benefits in cash or kind (except health care) specifically intended to combat social exclusion where it is not covered by one of the other functions.

The function of social protection refers to the primary purpose for which social protection is provided, irrespective of legislative or institutional provisions.

The observation unit is the social protection scheme. According to the definition, the social protection scheme is a distinct body of rules, supported by one or more institutional units, governing the provision of social protection benefits and their financing.

The expenditures of social protection schemes are the following: social benefits, administration costs, transfers to other schemes and other expenditure.

Social protection benefits, as the most extensive social protection expenditure, consist of transfers, in cash or in kind, by social protection schemes to households and individuals to relieve them of the burden of the defined set of risks or needs. Social benefits refer exclusively to cash payments, reimbursements and directly provided goods and services.

Administration costs are the costs charged to the scheme for management and administration thereof.

Transfers to other schemes are unrequited payments made to other social protection schemes.

Re-routed social contributions are payments that a social protection scheme makes to another scheme in order to maintain or accrue the rights of its protected people to social protection from the recipient scheme.

Other expenditure means miscellaneous expenditure by social protection schemes.

Receipts of social protection schemes are the following: social contributions, general government contributions, transfers from other schemes and other receipts.

Social contributions are the costs incurred by employers on behalf of their employees or by protected persons to secure entitlement to social benefits.

Employers' actual social contributions are payments made by employers to insurers to secure entitlement to social benefits for their employees, former employees and their dependants.

Employers' imputed social contributions are the costs incurred by employers by granting social benefits or by promising social benefits payable in future, to their employees, former employees and their dependants, without involving an autonomous insurer, and without maintaining segregated reserves for that purpose in their balance sheets.

Social contributions paid by protected persons are payments made by individuals and households to social protection schemes in order to obtain or keep the right to receive social benefits.

General government contributions are costs to general government of running government-controlled non-contributory schemes, and financial support provided by general government to other resident social protection schemes.

Transfers from other schemes mean unrequited payments received from other social protection schemes, which primarily includes social contributions re-routed from other schemes.

Other receipts include miscellaneous current receipts of social protection schemes.

Purchasing power standard (PPS) is an artificial common currency eliminating the effect of price level differences across countries. Theoretically, one PPS can buy the same amount of goods and services in each country.

Module on pension beneficiaries

Pension beneficiaries are defined as recipients of one or more periodic cash benefits of a social protection scheme falling within seven pension categories (disability pension; early retirement benefit due to reduced capacity to work; old-age pension; anticipated old-age pension; partial pension; survivors' pension; early retirement benefit due to labour market reasons), but person who receives more than one pension is counted only once – double counting is to be avoided.

 

Abbreviations

 
bln billion
ESSPROS European System of Integrated Social Protection Statistics
EU-28 European Union (28 Member States)
GDP gross domestic product
mln million
PPS purchasing power standard
   
Symbols  
0.0 value not zero but less than 0.05 of the unit of measure used

 

 

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Persons responsible:
Dubravka Rogić Hadžalić, Director of Demographic and Social Statistics Directorate
Lidija Brković, Director General

Prepared by:
Sandro Jakopčević, Nataša Vucelić and Mario Vlajčević


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