56,000 People in Croatia Diagnosed With a Disability in One Year

November the 3rd, 2026 – There has been a staggering increase of 56,000 people across Croatia diagnosed with some kind of disability in just one year. As things currently stand, every fifth person in Croatia is disabled. In just one single year, the number of recorded persons with disabilities in Croatia rose by as many as 56,000, according to a new report by the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ). Ivana Krnic reports for Jutarnji that according to the report, on 28 September this year there were 730,987 persons with disabilities living in Croatia, compared with 675,213 one year earlier. In other words, almost every fifth resident of Croatia is now officially recorded as a person with a disability. Such a worrying and high increase is primarily, according to those familiar with the matter, a consequence of the introduction of the inclusive allowance. Namely, the Register of Persons with Disabilities is actually a database of persons who exercise some right on the basis of disability: persons who have not been assessed or do not exercise any right cannot be in that database, regardless of their actual disability. Since the criteria for obtaining the inclusive allowance are incomparably milder than the criteria for the personal disability benefit or the allowance for another person’s assistance and care — rights that preceded the inclusive allowance — the number of persons receiving the inclusive allowance is significantly higher than the number of persons who previously received cash assistance. Specifically speaking, before the introduction of the inclusive allowance, around 150,000 persons received the personal disability benefit and the allowance for another person’s assistance and care, while the inclusive allowance is now received by around 240,000 persons, with around another hundred thousand applications still pending. The majority of persons receiving the inclusive allowance had the same or very similar difficulties earlier, but did not meet the strict criteria for receiving cash assistance and were therefore not registered as persons with disabilities. The HZJZ response also confirms that the new rights have significantly increased interest in assessments. new rights prompted an assessment increase “It covers a wide range of rights and that has attracted a large number of persons who hadn’t previously been assessed to undergo assessment and try in this way to exercise some of the mentioned rights,” doc. dr. sc. Tomislav Benjak, assistant director of the HZJZ for the quality of healthcare and author of the Report on Persons with Disabilities, told Jutarnji list. In addition to the inclusive allowance, he also mentions other rights, such as priority in employment, transport privileges, scholarships and tax reliefs, which can be exercised on the basis of an established disability. The method of collecting data also influenced the increase. Today almost all findings and decisions arrive digitally, practically immediately after the assessment, whereas previously they were partly delivered by post. Such a system did not guarantee that all of the data was indeed recorded in the Register. The largest part of the increase relates to persons over the age of 65. Their number rose in one year from 317,164 to 358,806, i.e. by 41,642 persons. That is almost three quarters of the total annual increase. Today almost half of all persons recorded in the Register are over 65 years old, and disability has been established in approximately 40 percent of the population of that age. Benjak says that the ageing of the population is one of the main reasons for the long-term increase in the number of persons with disabilities. In older age, difficulties with mobility, impairments of sight and hearing, and the consequences of chronic diseases occur more frequently. However, part of the increase also stems from the fact that persons who were already recorded eventually move into the older age group. “The natural transition from the age group up to 65 years into the age group of 65 years and over affects this distribution by approximately 30 percent,” he explains. Croatia is also not helped by the health habits of the population. Benjak warns of the high frequency of cardiovascular and malignant diseases, smoking, obesity and insufficient physical activity. how much does croatia actually deviate from global trends? Despite this, he emphasises that Croatia does not deviate significantly from international trends. When the first Register data was published back in 2007, the share of persons with disabilities was 10.7 percent, and today it is 18.9 percent. According to the data he cites, the World Health Organisation estimates that persons with disabilities make up around 16 percent of the world’s population, while Eurostat for the European Union cites 23.9 percent. These data, however, are not necessarily completely comparable because they are based on different methods of establishing disability. The new HZJZ report for the first time also brings a division according to the severity of disability. According to that classification, 106,724 persons have severe disability and 142,722 persons have more severe disability. Together that is almost 250,000 people. However, for as many as 206,902 persons, or 28.3 percent of all those recorded, the severity of disability has not been classified. Benjak explains that these are mostly persons who were assessed many years ago, when the findings from the then social welfare centres did not contain the data needed for today’s classification. Interestingly, a large part of these persons, despite the possibility of exercising these new rights, have not undergone a new assessment. It is also possible that they are not sufficiently informed. “What somehow surprises us as well is that around 200,000 persons assessed at that time with rights from social welfare and elements for entry into the Register have not requested new assessments in order to exercise the right to, for example, the inclusive allowance or rights in transport,” Benjak is also surprised. He emphasises that this is not a matter of double entries or of deceased persons. Every person is tracked by personal identification number (OIB), and the HZJZ also has data on deaths. He confirms that all 206,902 persons are alive and that there is a legal basis for their entry into the Register. The new division according to the severity of disability serves exclusively for statistical purposes and does not affect the exercise of rights. Nevertheless, the fact that data needed for classification are missing for more than a quarter of the recorded persons shows how difficult it is to obtain a complete picture of the structure of disability in Croatia. huge differences on a county by county basis There are also large differences among counties. In Šibenik-Knin County disability is recorded in 24.4 percent of the population, almost twice as much as in Istria County, where that share is 12.3 percent. The range is even greater among those over 65 years of age. In Šibenik-Knin County 49.6 percent of the population of that age have a disability, in Požega-Slavonia County 49.5 percent, and in Istria County 25.1 percent. Data for children and young people in Sisak-Moslavina County are particularly worrying. There the prevalence of disability in the age group up to 19 years rose from 17.9 to 20.5 percent, while the Croatian average is 12.3 percent. This means that disability is recorded in approximately every fifth child or young person in that county. Asked why the differences are so large, Benjak says that a special study would need to be conducted. Nevertheless, he warns that Sisak-Moslavina is one of the most deprived Croatian counties, with lower wages, weaker employment, higher unemployment and unfavourable demographic trends. “All of the above certainly also has as a consequence the occurrence of disability and developmental difficulties in children,” Benjak believes. Without additional analysis it is not possible to determine how much health and social conditions, and how much the availability of diagnostics, assessments and the method of recording, influence such a high prevalence. the case with children across croatia Another seemingly unusual piece of data appears in the report. Although the total number of children and young people with disabilities is rising, the number of persons for whom decisions on an appropriate form of schooling arrived in the Register has decreased from 57,703 to 49,847. Nevertheless, it seems that the reason is not necessarily a smaller number of children with difficulties, but a change in the records. According to Benjak’s explanation, the Ministry of Education requested the deactivation of records of persons up to the age of 21 whose only basis for entry into the Register was a decision on an appropriate form of schooling, and who after 2015 weren’t ever reassessed. Among them are persons who during childhood had developmental difficulties such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, behavioural disorders or learning difficulties, which over time may have decreased or disappeared. Changes in the records also explain the decrease in the number of Croatian war military invalids. Their number fell from 54,640 to 46,132, i.e. by 8,508 persons. According to instructions from the Ministry of Croatian Veterans, only persons who are in its official database remain in the HRVI category. Some previously recorded persons no longer appear in that database, so their HRVI status in the Register has been deactivated. Despite such changes, Benjak claims that the annual reports have been prepared using the same methodology and that it is possible to track trends. In fact, the only novelty in the 2026 report is the additional statistical division according to the severity of disability. However, precisely the changes in the records of children and veterans show how much administrative decisions can influence the statistics. The post 56,000 People in Croatia Diagnosed With a Disability in One Year appeared first on Total Croatia .