If you lived in Croatia instead of Poland, you would:

Health

be 41.2% more likely to be obese

In Poland, 21.8% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Croatia, that number is 30.8% of people as of 2024.

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see 18.0% less spent on your healthcare

Poland spends $3,939 per person on healthcare as of 2024 (international dollars, adjusted for prices). Croatia spends $3,229 as of 2023.

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be 14.7% more likely to die by suicide

Poland has a suicide rate of 13.7 per 100,000 people as of 2021. In Croatia, it is 15.7 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Economy

be 67.8% more likely to be unemployed

In Poland, 3.0% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Croatia, that number is 5.0% as of 2025.

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be 50.4% more likely to live below the poverty line

In Poland, 13.5% live below the poverty line as of 2025. In Croatia, however, that number is 20.3% as of 2024.

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Life

have 20.3% more children

In Poland, there are approximately 6.9 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Croatia, there are 8.3 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

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be 50.0% more likely to die during childbirth

In Poland, approximately 2.0 women die from pregnancy or childbirth per 100,000 live births as of 2023. In Croatia, 3.0 women do as of 2023.

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be 13.9% more likely to die during infancy

In Poland, approximately 3.6 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2024. In Croatia, on the other hand, 4.1 children do as of 2024.

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Basic Needs

be 10.9% more likely to have access to drinking water

In Poland, approximately 90% of people have access to drinking water (96% in urban areas, and 82% in rural areas) as of 2024. In Croatia, that number is 100% of people on average (100% in urban areas, and 100% in rural areas) as of 2024.

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Expenditures

spend 11.3% less on healthcare

Poland spends 8.1% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2024. In Croatia, that number is 7.2% of GDP as of 2023.

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Geography

see 13.3 times more coastline

Poland has a total of 440 km of coastline. In Croatia, that number is 5,835 km.

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Safety

be 16.2% less likely to be murdered

Poland has a homicide rate of 0.8 per 100,000 people as of 2023. In Croatia, that number is 0.7 per 100,000 as of 2023.

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be 24.6% more likely to die in a road accident

In Poland, road accidents kill 6.5 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Croatia, they kill 8.1 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Infrastructure

find 16.7% more home broadband

Poland has 25.4 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2024. Croatia has 29.6 as of 2024.

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live with 95.4% less strain on fresh water

Poland withdraws 32% of its available fresh water each year as of 2022. Croatia withdraws 2% as of 2022.

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Environment

be 24.4% less likely to die from air pollution

In Poland, air pollution causes 41.0 deaths per 100,000 people as of 2019. In Croatia, it causes 31.0 as of 2019.

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emit 36.0% less CO2

Poland emits 7.5 tonnes of CO2 per person each year as of 2024. Croatia emits 4.8 tonnes as of 2024.

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Sources: World Bank (2021–2025), United Nations SDG Indicators (2019–2021), World Health Organization (2024), The World Factbook. How we calculate this

Croatia: At a glance

Croatia is a sovereign country in Europe, with a total land area of approximately 55,974 sq km. The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal independent communist state under the strong hand of Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands, along with a majority of Croatia's ethnic Serb population. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998. The country joined NATO in April 2009 and the EU in July 2013.
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How big is Croatia compared to Poland? See an in-depth size comparison.

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