RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, 2024 – Provisional Data

According to the provisional data, the share of research and development (R&D) expenditures in GDP in 2024 was 1.49%.

In 2024, a total of 1.2 billion euro was spent on R&D activity in the Republic of Croatia, which was an increase of 7.2% compared to the previous year. Of the total funds intended for R&D, the largest amount was spent in the business enterprise sector, i.e. 54.8%. It was followed by higher education with 27.2%, while the smallest amount of funds was spent in the government and private non-profit sector, i.e. 18.0%.

The R&D activity may be the employees’ main activity or their additional activity in part-time employment. In order to present the actual engagement of R&D employees, a full-time equivalent (FTE) is used in line with the standards of international statistics. The FTE is considered as the main indicator of R&D personnel for the purpose of international comparison.

The total number of R&D personnel in 2024 was 27 387, which is 2.5% less than in the previous year. Expressed in the full-time equivalent, in 2024, a total of 16 554.1 person-years (i.e. persons working full-time in R&D) were employed in research and development. R&D personnel consists of researchers, professional staff, technical staff and other (support) staff. Their share expressed in terms of the number of persons is highest in the higher education sector (48.4%), followed by the business sector (34.8%), and the lowest in the state and private non-profit sector (16.8%), while this share expressed in the full-time equivalent is highest in the business sector (43.6%).

The final and more detailed data on research and development will be available on 28 July 2026 on the website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics at PC-AXIS database, where it is possible to view and print data in various formats.

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Purpose of the survey

The purpose of the Research and Development survey is to monitor the R&D activity in the Republic of Croatia and to produce internationally comparable data fully in line with European standards (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics). In addition, methodological guidelines are defined by the Frascati Manual 2015 and the European Business Statistics Methodological Manual for R&D statistics (2023 edition).

Sources and methods of data collection

Data are the result of statistical processing of annual reports collected from legal units dealing with R&D in the Republic of Croatia in the 2024 calendar year. The units from the business enterprise sector filled out the Annual Report on R&D for Enterprises (IR-1 form), the government and private non-profit sector the Annual Report on R&D for Government and Private Non-Profit Sector (IR-2 form) and the institutions of higher education the Annual Report on R&D for Higher Education (IR-3 form). The forms were sent to the reporting units via electronic mail, along with general instructions and attachments required to fill out the forms. The reporting units returned the completed forms in the same way.

The reference period to which data on R&D personnel and expenditure refer is the entire 2024.

Pursuant to the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos 25/20, 155/23 and 124/25 – corr.), the confidentiality of all data provided by the reporting units in the form is guaranteed. The data collected are used solely for statistical purposes and are published in aggregated form.

Observation units

The main observation unit/statistical unit for R&D in the business sector is the enterprise – a business entity that makes an organizational unit engaged in producing goods and/or services and benefits from a certain degree of autonomy, in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No. 696/93 on statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community. Depending on the business and organizational situation, it may correspond to either one legal unit or a group of several legal units. In addition to legal units, enterprises also include free lances and crafts.

Each enterprise as a whole is assigned a code number of its principal activity according to the National Classification of Activities, 2007 version. The principal activity is determined and updated by the Statistical Business Register of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.

For other sectors (government, private non-profit and higher education sector), the units of observation are still legal and natural persons.

Coverage and comparability

The statistical survey entitled Research and Development in 2024 covers legal units on the territory of the Republic of Croatia that are known or assumed to be engaged in the R&D activity.

Publishing

Provisional data are published within 11 months after the end of the reference (reporting) year. The final results for the entire set of variables are published within 19 months after the end of the reference (reporting) year. After publishing the data in the Republic of Croatia, they are also published by Eurostat.

Confidentiality

Aggregate data, for which confidentiality must be upheld (because of a small number of units, the dominance rule or secondary confidentiality rule), are treated as such and are not published, which is in line with the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos 25/20, 155/23 and 124/25 – corr.) and the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics.

Additional notes on methodology are available in the document Research and development ‒ Notes on Methodology.

Published by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb, Ilica 3, P. O. B. 80
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Persons responsible:
Milenka Primorac Čačić, Director of Business Statistics Directorate
Lidija Brković, Director General

Prepared by:
Matija Škegro Vdović, Vjera Duić and Blanka Munjin

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