February 22, 2023 - Did you know there are more Uzbeks living in Croatia than Brits? A look at the population change since 2018, as Croatia is no longer the whitest county in the world.

Back in 2018 as Croatia reached the World Cup Final against France, an anti-racism group tweet suggested that Croatia was racist as all its players were white. A quite ridiculous suggestion, in the same way as Nigeria could be accused of the same thing for not fielding any white players (in fact Croatia has had black players and Nigeria a white player, according to research I did at the time). 

It did get me thinking though. Having lived in 10 countries including Rwanda, Somalia, Japan, Russia, the UK and Germany, it was quite a rare thing to see black or Asian people in Croatia. Curious, I contacted the Ministry of the Interior to get statistics on how many foreigners were living in Croatia in 2018. The answer - 29,156. You can see a breakdown in my 2018 article How Many Foreigners Live in Croatia, and Where are They From?

99.3% Croat and most of the foreigners also being white, it seemed that Croatia was the whitest country in the world, as I explored recently on my YouTube channel. 

Back in 2018 (and please note these are not my numbers, but ones from the Ministry of the Interior), these where the top 20 countries in terms of numbers of nationals with temporary or permanent residence in Croatia.

Of these, only five countries - BiH, Slovenia, Serbia, Germany and Italy had more than 1,000, see below.

So how have things changed since then?

I contacted the Ministry again, and they very kindly provided me with data for every country. I was very surprised by some things I saw - that there are more Uzbeks than Brits living in Croatia, for example. 

Here are the top 20 on December 31, 2022, according to MUP. 

Quite a difference. 

The trend of importing cheaper labour from Asia seems to be clearly visible.

In 2018, there were only 5 countries with more than 1000 nationals living here, according to official MUP statistics.

That has changed considerably, as you can see below.

The total number of foreigners with temporary or permanent residence as of December 31, 2022 stood at 172,199, a big leap from those 2018 numbers. 

And bear in mind also that the population has been slowly declining over that period, as young Croats emigrate in search of opportunities abroad. 

So it would appear that Croatia is no longer the whitest country in the world. I am not saying that is a good thing or a bad thing, just that it is a thing. An interesting discussion in the cafe, for sure. 

Many thanks for the efforts of the press department of the Ministry of the Interior for providing the information. Having worked closely with MUP during the pandemic with the award-winning Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community, I do sometimes wonder how Croatia might look if they ran other parts of the administration.

Read more... Croats Leaving, Foreigners Arriving, How to Preserve Hrvatska?

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Croatia, a Survival Kit for Foreigners is now available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.

February 22, 2023 - Zagreb mayor Tomislav Tomasevic announced on his Facebook page that 20 buses were presented as part of the project to purchase 65 buses for ZET, co-financed from EU funds, on top of the 45 new buses which were put in traffic in November last year.

"These are 20 articulated buses with a capacity of 89 standing and 41 seated places, equipped with access platforms for simpler and easier entry for people with disabilities, video surveillance, and an air conditioning system. The value of all 65 buses is EUR 21.4 million, of which EUR 14.5 million was financed from the EU Cohesion Fund", the Zagreb mayor wrote on Facebook, as reported by 24Sata.

"The new buses are replacing worn-out vehicles of the older generation, which means that the fleet will break down less often, the timetable will be more reliable, and through the reduction of exhaust gas emissions, the new buses will contribute to cleaner air in Zagreb. In addition to these buses, in December, we signed a contract to purchase 20 new low-floor trams, the largest project co-financed from EU funds in Zagreb. After a full 17 years, when the last tram was purchased, the men and women of Zagreb will be able to ride in new trams again shortly", he added.

"The plan is to purchase an additional 40 to 60 trams and about 100 buses that run on clean energy sources (most likely hydrogen or electricity), which we will discuss in the coming months. These are investments of several hundred million euros. To this should be added the reconstruction and expansion of the tram and road network (Heinzelova, Sarajevska, Črnomerec Srednjaci, connecting the airport with the city center), the reconstruction of bridges, the construction of new bicycle paths, the expansion of pedestrian zones, the reconstruction of Jarun, etc., which together shows that it is a busy infrastructure at the top of our city administration's investment.

Our goal is that the share of citizens who use public transport (tram, bus, cable car, and in the future the train to the airport) increases significantly compared to the number of car users. Everyone will benefit from this: the city will be less congested with crowds, the air will be cleaner, and travel around the city will be faster and more affordable for the people of Zagreb and everyone who comes to Zagreb", Zagreb mayor concluded in the announcement.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

February 22, 2023 - Aging like a fine wine, maestro Luka Modrić continues to impress in the Champions League at 37 years old. 

It was an epic duel at Anfield on Tuesday night as part of the Champions League round of 16. Liverpool hosted Real Madrid in the first leg of this last-16 tie, and by the 67th minute, it was already 2:5 for Real Madrid. 

Liverpool was up 2:0 in the first 15 minutes with goals from Nunez and Salah, but the current European champion woke up five minutes later, and two goals from Vinicius in the 21st and 36th minutes leveled the result. Luka Modrić masterfully assisted for the Real Madrid lead at 2:3 in the 47th minute and intercepted the ball from Liverpool in Madrid's half to launch the play that resulted in Madrid's 5th and final goal, scored by Karim Benzema.

Modrić's world-class performance lasted until the 87th minute when he was subbed off for Toni Kroos. The 37-year-old Croat received a standing ovation from the whole of Anfield, proving once again that his Champions League masterclass knows no age. 

Real Madrid became the first club in history to score five goals against Liverpool in a European match at Anfield.

"This is how Real Madrid wins," wrote Luka Modrić on Twitter and Instagram after Real Madrid's fantastic performance. The Croatia captain also received praise from all sides for his outstanding play.

"It was the usual Modrić, the best one can see, constant, in rhythm, with good control of the ball. I think he was key in the moments when we had difficulties," said coach Carlo Ancelotti.

"These are tournaments for players like Modric, Kroos, and Karim, where experience makes the difference. When you're down 2:0, the experience of these players is key to helping the younger players stay focused," added the Italian expert.

Spanish sports daily Marca was also full of praise.

"He is a leader and life insurance on big nights. It's crazy to rule Anfield at 37."

"The fact that Liverpool fans applauded Luka and Karim only proves that people here know how to appreciate these guys who play great," said Real Madrid's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

The 37-year-old Croatia captain wants to end his career at Real Madrid, and according to Ancelotti, he deserves a contract extension, which expires on June 30.

"Modrić has a career in which he has shown it and shows that he deserves it. He didn't do well in January but returned to his best level and will continue to grow. I am sure of this because he is physically excellent and also wants to play for Real Madrid," Ancelotti said.

Modrić said at the same press conference that he wants to earn a new contract and not be given or offered one because of past merits and achievements. However, the club and the player still haven't discussed his contract renewal. 

The Croatia national team captain won 22 trophies with Real Madrid, and this season made 31 appearances for the club. Real Madrid is defending the Champions League title this season.

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

February 22, 2023 - In the centre of the Earth's inner core, there is another layer: the innermost core, which is a solid "metallic ball," asserted Croatian scientist Dr. Hrvoje Tkalcic and his associate Dr. Thanh-Son Pham from the Australian National University in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications (ANU) in Canberra.

As Jutarnji writes, in school, we were taught that the Earth's interior consists of four layers: crust, mantle, outer and inner core. The border between the Earth's crust and the mantle is called the Mohorovičić discontinuity or Moho layer because it was discovered by the Croatian scientist Andrija Mohorovicic (1857-1936), which is one of the most significant discoveries in seismology of the 20^th century. Now, however, Croatian scientist Hrvoje Tkalcic is changing the existing knowledge about the interior of the Earth.

Twenty years ago, scientists made the assumption about the existence of the innermost core, and using data collected from seismic waves caused by earthquakes, Tkalcic and Thanh-Son Pham proved it. They analysed data from around 200 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 and above in the last ten years. For example, one of the earthquakes studied by scientists occurred in Alaska. The seismic waves generated by that earthquake "rebounded" somewhere in the South Atlantic before travelling back to Alaska.

"These are observations of waves that spread two, three, four, or five times along the Earth's diameter after large earthquakes. These waves are bounced multiple times through the Earth's interior, like a ping pong ball bouncing in the same direction, and pass through its very centre. We observed these multiple paths of waves through the centre of the Earth for the first time in the history of seismological observations", said Dr. Hrvoje Tkalcic, professor of seismology and mathematical geophysics and head of the Department of Geophysics at the Australian National University (ANU).

Updates in textbooks

Secondly, by measuring the time of the passage of seismic waves through the interior of the Earth's core, we confirmed that the inner core has two parts. The inner part is the central core, and the outer part is the shell that surrounds it. Both the central inner core and the shell surrounding it are alloys of iron and nickel in a solid aggregate state. However, what differentiates them is not their chemical composition but the direction in which the waves slow down through them. In jargon, this is called anisotropy. In other words, the central core and the outer shell that surrounds it are anisotropic, each in its way, either because of the different crystal structure of iron (the way the iron atoms are arranged in the crystal lattice) or because of the orientation of the crystal", explained Tkalcic. This Croatian scientist is one of the leading world experts in understanding the Earth's inner core, about which he published a book published by Cambridge University Press in 2017, the first of its kind in the world.

He pointed out that studying the deep interior of the Earth's inner core can tell more about the past and evolution of our planet.

"This inner core is like a time capsule of the Earth's evolutionary history – a fossilized record that serves as an insight into the events of our planet's past. This helps us understand the Earth's history, that is, the conditions that prevailed during the crystallisation of the Earth's inner core, in a similar way to how we study the age of trees and the climatic conditions that existed on Earth. I think that with this work, we have put a dot on the 'i' and confirmed the existence of the central core of the Earth. The time has come for the illustrations of the Earth's internal structure in textbooks to change", emphasised Hrvoje Tkalcic.

Who is Hrvoje Tkalčić?

He was born in 1970 in Bjelovar, went to high school in Vinkovci, and graduated in physics - majoring in geophysics at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics (PMF) in Zagreb. He received his doctorate on the subject interior of the Earth's core at the University of California, Berkeley. Then he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Institute in San Diego and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the largest nuclear laboratory in the USA.

He is the recipient of the Australian Research Achievement Excellence Award, the British Price Medal, and a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Also, prof. Tkalcic is an excellent populariser of science: his book, "Earthquakes: Giants That Sometimes Wake Up," published last year by Ljevak, is very popular among readers.

Open access to the paper, as shared by the professor on Twitter. 

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

February 22, 2023 - Lost in translation, the video edition - 15 Croatian Language Fails: Smallpox, Hand Jobs and a Burek Called Desire.

I have very rarely cried with laughter when reading an article online, but TCN editor got me crying three time in the same month with her fabulous Lost in Translation series about Croatian language fails a few years ago.

You can find links to the original articles by Lauren below, but we thought it might make a fun video to compile the best of the best.

15 Croatian Language Fails: Smallpox, Hand Jobs and a Burek Called Desire goes out live tonight at 19:53. Click on the video to get the notification.

Hope you enjoy.

Smallpox, Diarrhoea and Free Hand Jobs: Lost in Translation in Croatia - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/21467-lost-in-translation-the-croatia-edition

Leprosy, Bitches and a Burek named Desire: Lost in Translation in Croatia - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/21743-leprosy-bitches-and-a-burek-named-desire-lost-in-translation-in-croatia

Shakespeare, the Pope and the Way to the ''See'': Lost in Translation in Croatia - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/24083-shakespeare-the-pope-and-the-way-to-the-see-lost-in-translation-in-croatia

Adverbs, Cocks and Dalmatian Furniture: Lost in Translation in Croatia - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/24100-adverbs-cocks-and-dalmatian-furniture-lost-in-translation-in-croatia

Winos, Doggy Style and Strange Furious Drinks: Lost in Translation in Croatia - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/24144-winos-doggy-style-and-strange-furious-drinks-lost-in-translation-in-croatia

Lubricator, Prefects, and Middle-Earth Moving Cake: Lost in Translation in Croatia - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/30209-lubricator-prefects-and-middle-earth-moving-cake-lost-in-translation-in-croatia

Paper Sauce, Bears, and Fertilisers of Rice: Lost in Translation in Croatia - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/30255-paper-sauce-bears-and-fertilisers-of-rice-lost-in-translation-in-croatia

Prize Lists, Cold Deposits and Viagra: Lost in Translation in Croatia - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/30684-prize-lists-cold-deposits-and-viagra-lost-in-translation-in-croatia

Lost in Translation in Croatia: Bears, Acid, and Worm Appetisers - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/37599-croatia

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You can subscribe to the Paul Bradbury Croatia Expert YouTube channel here.

What is it like to live in Croatia? An expat for 20 years, you can follow my series, 20 Ways Croatia Changed Me in 20 Years, starting at the beginning - Business and Dalmatia.

Follow Paul Bradbury on LinkedIn.

Croatia, a Survival Kit for Foreigners is now available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.

February the 22nd, 2023 - I've covered what you need to do to get temporary residence as both a third country national (a person who doesn't hold the citizenship of a European Economic Area country), and as an EEA citizen. In this article, I'll delve deeper into what you need to do to get temporary Croatian residence approved if you're a third country national who already has permanent residence in an EEA country.

Is a third country national who already has permanent residence in another EEA country treated differently when applying?

Short answer - yes. Long(er) answer - the case of a third country national who has already been approved and holds the status of a permanent resident in another EEA country (not Croatia) is treated slightly differently to that of a third country national who doesn't have permanent residence in another EEA country.

Croatian law is a fascinating thing. There is a rule created for just about every possible conceivable circumstance, no matter how specific. There are also ten clerks who can’t interpret it, but that’s some humour best left for another time. This one is fairly simple.

If you're a third country national who has been granted permanent residence in another EEA country, you can apply for short-term stay under the following rules, and by providing the same documents as listed below, meaning that you can stay in Croatia until the expiry of the visa or the residence card issued to you by the EEA country which has approved your permanent residence in that country, and for a maximum period of three months from the date of your initial entry into Croatia.

Here's what you'll need when applying for temporary Croatian residence:

Your birth certificate.

A copy of your birth certificate.

A valid passport.

The permanent residence card issued to you by another EEA country

A scanned copy (it's wise to make several copies), of the photographic ID of the page with your details in your passport and the permanent residence card issued to you by another EEA country

A colour 35x45mm photograph (passport style, not passport size - MUP will either take your photo there and then or direct you to a nearby place to have it done to the correct measure).

Proof of health insurance

Proof of funds to sustain yourself for the foreseen length of stay in Croatia (this can be proven with a printed statement from the bank showing and attesting to the amount in the account).

Proof of the justification of the reason behind your request for temporary residency.

Proof of having housing (this can be proven in several ways, either with a notarized rental contract, proof of home ownership, or having your landlord or whoever you're staying with come with you in person).

In some cases, a police clearance certificate from the applicant's home country is required, however, this is not always asked for, so make sure to ask if you need this beforehand!

The documents submitted with the correct form you must fill in from MUP must be either originals, or certified copies. These foreign documents are usually required to be translated (with a certified translation) into the Croatian language. The documents must not be older than six months.

Just as with the normal procedure, if you intend to stay longer than three months (before the expiration of the visa or residence permit from another EEA country) you can apply for a temporary residence permit at your local police station in Croatia, or in the Croatian consulate of the EEA country which approved your permanent residence there.

Caveats

If you're successful, you'll be given a biometric residence permit proving your Croatian temporary residence.

As a third country national who has been granted temporary Croatian residence, members of your family can also be granted temporary Croatian residence for the purpose of family reunification, if that family member also holds a valid residence permit in another EEA country, or if they've been resident in a shared household with you, as a third country national, in the EEA country in which you hold permanent residence.

Family members in this case are spouses and partners, underage biological children and underage adopted children.

Unlike in the case for EEA citizens, for third-country nationals (and yes, that includes those who hold permanent residence in another EEA country), it can take a while before you hear of the outcome of the Ministry of the Interior's decision when it comes to the application you've submitted, and you might need to follow up to see how things stand. Don't worry if you don't hear much, but do make sure to follow up. Ask questions if you're unsure, no matter the attitude of the person answering, and seek a second opinion should you feel the need to do so. 

You can email MUP in Zagreb at any time, responses might not be quick, but you'll get one eventually in any case: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Keep up with our How to Croatia, Moving to Croatia and Living in Croatia articles by following our dedicated lifestyle section.

February the 21st, 2023 - Many are quick to take a (usually warranted) swipe at the state of the Croatian healthcare system. They'd be right to do so. It is grossly mismanaged and chronically underfunded, with both patients and staff suffering the often severe consequences. Croatian doctors, however, just keep on impressing.

Medical wonders never cease at the Radiochirurgia Special Hospital in Zagreb, as the Croatian doctors there are the only ones in the entire world to perform radiosurgical procedures under general anesthesia, which in just one procedure, destroy cancerous tumors of the lungs, pancreas, and prostate without irradiating the delicate surrounding tissues and organs.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, this type of radiosurgery procedure can be performed with a patient referral from HZZO (the Croatian Health Insurance Fund), and the hospital which carries it out cooperates with KB (Clinical Hospital) Merkur and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. The results in the fight against cancer are incredible, as reported by HRT.

In one patient, they managed to destroy a form of cancer which causes the deaths of millions each year - an inoperable pancreatic tumor - using radiosurgical ablation.

No blood, no pain, no long recovery

"Over 50 percent of patients live longer than 24 months, and somewhere around 13 percent of them live longer than 4 years. The reactions following the procedure are spectacular. There's no blood, no pain, no long-term recovery, and no postoperative complications. The patient comes, and otherwise it is done in one fraction that lasts for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the patient, and then the patient goes home. That means that this is actually an outpatient procedure", said hospital director Dragan Schwarz.

During the procedure, the patient must be under general anesthesia so that the radiosurgery procedure can be performed as accurately as possible.

"The problem is that cancerous tumors move within the body, due to breathing, peristalsis and other physiological processes. When under general anesthesia, we achieve a situation in which the patient is completely motionless. The anesthesia stops them breathing and reduces peristalsis. This results in heightened safety of over 90 percent. Even according to our own experience, there's a 98 percent chance that the treated lesion will necrotise and then be destroyed," said Hrvoje Kaucic, head of the radiosurgery and radiotherapy department.

A special role is played by medical physicists who are in charge of ensuring that the linear accelerator accurately and precisely delivers the planned and prescribed dose of radiation.

The pancreas is the biggest challenge of all

Cooperation with colleagues from electrical engineering and computing helps them to be more precise and without the anesthesia. They detect moving organs in order to spare them during the targeted destruction of the tumor. The pancreas, they say, is the biggest challenge within the human body when it comes to this.

"It's a challenge, but we managed through this work to carry out the procedure based on the knowledge of other organs and the mutual relationship between the organs and the pancreas, and we got a fairly precise position of the pancreas. From 80 to 90+ percent of the reliability of the position of an individual organ", said Zdenko Kovacic, head of the Laboratory for Robotics and Intelligent Management Systems.

Experts in radiosurgery together with Croatian doctors from KB Merkur provide patients suffering from the rare cancerous Klackin's tumor a fighting chance for a longer life.

"We've now created a model to start radiation with radiosurgical treatment, where a patient who is a transplant candidate and has a Klackin's tumor receives an ablative dose. After that, we put it on the list and after that we successfully transplant it. Survival is much higher and the odds are much better - oer three years," said Stipislav Jadrijevic, head of the Department of Abdominal Surgery at KB Merkur.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated news section.

February the 21st, 2023 - No less than the well respected Vogue magazine has showered praise on Croatia, hinting that it is better than Tuscany and applauding this country's outstanding wine offer, from Konavle to the Istrian peninsula.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the prestigious Vogue magazine recently devoted some of its reportage to gorgeous Istria, where it singled out several must-visit destinations. Each of the destinations chosen is adorned with beautiful nature, as well as numerous gastronomic charms that should be an excuse for you to pay a visit, according to the mag.

In its report under the title ''Tuscany, move aside - why Croatia should be on everyone's radar,'' Vogue magazine listed several reasons as to why the Istrian peninsula could be a better choice as a holiday destination than Tuscany, B92 reports. According to the magazine, the best of all that Istria has to offer is its impressive wine.

When you think of Croatia, wine may not be the first thing that comes to mind. In addition to turquoise beaches and historic cities that have made Croatia a favourite summer destination, its agricultural wealth consists of hectares of centuries-old vineyards and olive groves that span steep slopes and green valleys.

Last year, Croatia achieved a record at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards. It won three platinum and sixteen gold medals, which stimulated even greater interest in small-batch wines. Today, with an increasing international focus on its 130 indigenous grape varieties, theecountry is finally gaining recognition as a destination for wine lovers. Along with this boom in winemaking, a new generation of design-advanced hotels and modern infrastructure have made it easier to stay in the four main Croatian wine regions.

Two of them are located on the coast, and entry into the Eurozone and the Schengen zone have also contributed to Croatia's popularity. Vogue singles out Konavle, Istra and Peljesac as top Croatian destinations for wine lovers.

As for Croatia's wealth of stunning natural beauty, Vogue wrote about river waterfalls and hiking trails, idyllic places and family farms (OPGs). Istria was nicknamed the ''new Tuscany'' because of its signature rolling hills dotted with olive groves, vineyards and forests full of truffles.

Due to its location, the Istrian peninsula has always connected the Mediterranean with the continental part of the country. This is exactly how opposite cultures and influences came together in the best way, which is the basis of the diversity and richness of the gastronomic offer of this peninsula.

For more, check out our dedicated news section.