Education at a Glance 2025: Croatia
Table of contents
This country note provides an overview of the key characteristics of the education system in Croatia based on data from Education at a Glance 2025. In line with this year’s thematic focus, it emphasises tertiary education while also covering other parts of the education system. The data in this note are provided for the latest available year. Readers interested in the reference years for the data should refer to the corresponding tables in Education at a Glance 2025.
Educational inequalities persist across generations. In all countries with available data, young adults (25-34 year-olds) are significantly more likely to attain a tertiary qualification if their parents have also done so. In Croatia, 58% of 25-34 year-olds with at least one tertiary-educated parent have also attained a tertiary qualification, compared to only 11% among those whose parents did not complete upper secondary education. This tertiary-attainment gap of 47 percentage points is larger than the OECD average gap of 44 percentage points (Figure 1).
Survey of Adult Skills, in per cent
Note: The percentage in parentheses represents the share of tertiary-educated parents.
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Table A1.4 (available on line).
The share of young adults (25-34 year-olds) without upper secondary attainment continues to decline across the OECD, reaching an average of 13%. However, this is not the case in Croatia, where the share remained unchanged at 4% between 2019 and 2024.
On average, individuals with a master’s or equivalent degree have significantly higher employment rates and earnings than those with a bachelor’s or equivalent degree. However, the share of young adults (25-34 year-olds) attaining a master’s or equivalent qualification varies widely across OECD countries, ranging from 1% to 39% in 2024. In Croatia, 27% of 25-34 year-olds hold a master’s or equivalent degree, which is well above the OECD average of 16%. This represents an increase since 2019, when the share was 23%.
In most OECD countries, a significant share of adults have low levels of literacy proficiency, defined as at or below Level 1 (on a scale of 0-5) in the OECD Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Individuals at this level can only understand very short texts with minimal distracting information. In Croatia, 28% of 25-64 year-olds have literacy skills at or below Level 1, which is similar to the OECD average of 27%.
Educational attainment and skills are closely linked, although the strength of this relationship varies across countries. In Croatia, tertiary-educated adults score, on average, 25 points higher in literacy proficiency than those with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment in the Survey of Adult Skills. This gap is smaller than the OECD average difference of 34 points.
In Croatia, as in all OECD countries, adults with better literacy skills are more likely to participate in education and training. In 2023, 44% of adults (25-64 year-olds) with high literacy proficiency (i.e. at or above Level 4) in the Survey of Adult Skills participated in formal and/or non-formal education and training in the last year, compared to just 16% of those with proficiency at or below Level 1.
Education systems must adapt to changes in the number of children by expanding or reducing provision accordingly. In many countries, the population of children aged 0-4 changed significantly between 2013 and 2023 and is projected to change further by 2033. Croatia experienced a decline of 17% in the number of 0-4 year-olds, and is projected to see a decline of 17% between 2023 and 2033.
The share of students in lower secondary education who are at least two years older than the expected age for their grade varies widely across OECD countries, ranging from virtually none in some countries to over 10% in others. In Croatia, the share is at the lower end of the OECD distribution in 2023, at 0.4%.
Across the OECD, the two most popular broad fields of study are science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and business, administration, and law, each accounting for 23% of graduates from bachelor’s or equivalent programmes. They are closely followed by the broad field of arts and humanities, social sciences, journalism and information, at 22% of graduates. In Croatia, 31% of bachelor’s degree students graduate from a STEM field, 18% from business, administration and law, and 17% from arts and humanities, social sciences, journalism and information.
International student mobility in tertiary education continues to rise across the OECD, with some countries experiencing substantial growth in the share of international students between 2018 and 2023. On average, 7.4% of all tertiary students across the OECD were international or foreign students, compared to 6% in 2018. Croatia saw a modest increase, with the share rising from 3% to 3.7% (Figure 2).
In per cent
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Table B4.3.
There are significant disparities in how much governments spend each year in education across OECD, partner and accession countries. Croatia spends USD 7 781 per student from primary to post-secondary non-tertiary levels, placing it at the lower end of the country range, which spans from less than USD 2 000 to more than USD 27 000 (Figure 3).
In equivalent USD converted using PPPs, expenditure on educational institutions
Note: Expenditure at tertiary level includes R&D. Expenditure per student in early childhood education is based on headcounts rather than full-time equivalent students. Expenditure at tertiary level for Luxembourg (USD 54 384) is not shown in the figure.
1. Year of reference differs from 2022.
2. Primary includes pre-primary education.
3. Includes payments by households outside educational institutions.
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Table C1.1 and Table C1.2.
As in most other countries, government expenditure in Croatia is roughly the same at tertiary level, including research and development (R&D), than at primary to post-secondary non-tertiary levels. Government expenditure in Croatia amounts to USD 8 559 per tertiary student compared to the OECD average of USD 15 102.
A large part of the disparity in expenditure per student across OECD, partner and accession countries reflects differences in national income levels. When expenditure is measured as a share of GDP, cross-country differences tend to be smaller, ranging from 2.5% of GDP to 6.9%. In Croatia, education investment in primary to tertiary education stands at 3.4% of GDP, which is below the OECD average of 4.7% by this measure.
The amount of compulsory instruction time affects teacher salary costs as it influences the number of teachers needed, combined with other factors such as class size and teaching time of teachers. In Croatia, students receive 472 hours of compulsory instruction per year in primary education and 663 hours in lower secondary education. This is below the OECD average of 804 hours in primary and 909 hours in lower secondary education.
School holidays in primary education last 14.2 weeks per year in Croatia (all breaks combined), compared to 13.5 weeks across the OECD.
In Croatia, 50% of instruction time in primary education is allocated to mathematics and reading, writing and literature, falling to 34% in lower secondary education. In comparison, the OECD average is for 41% of instruction time in primary education and 27% in lower secondary education to be devoted to these core subjects.
At tertiary level, the average ratio of students to academic staff varies across different types of institutions. In many countries, institutions with a strong research focus, defined as those with more than three doctoral graduates per 100 graduates, tend to have lower student staff ratios than those with a smaller share of doctoral graduates. This is not the case in Croatia, where institutions with greater research focus have an average of 9 students per academic staff member, compared to 8 students per academic staff member at institutions with a smaller share of doctoral graduates.
For more information on Education at a Glance 2025 and to access the full set of indicators, see: https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en.
For more information on the methodology used during the data collection for each indicator, the references to the sources and the specific notes for each country, see Education at a Glance 2025: Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes, https://doi.org/10.1787/fcfaf2d1-en.
For general information on the methodology, please refer to the OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264304444-en.
Updated data can be found on line at http://data-explorer.oecd.org/ and by following the StatLinks in the publication.
Explore, compare and visualise more data and analysis using the Education GPS: https://gpseducation.oecd.org/.
Questions can be directed to the Education at a Glance team at the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills: EDU.EAG@oecd.org.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.
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