Editing Demographics of Croatia (section)

==Significant migrations==
[[File:Ad-of-croat-cruiser-en-route-to-sth-america.jpg|thumb|right|A 1930s ad for shipping lines to South America]]
[[File:Oficina Estatal de Croatas en el Extranjero, Zagreb, Croacia, 2014-04-20, DD 01.JPG|thumbnail|State Office for Croats Abroad in Zagreb]]
The demographic history of Croatia is characterised by significant migrations, starting with the arrival of the Croats in the area. According to the work ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'' written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor [[Constantine VII]], the Croats arrived in the area of modern-day Croatia in the early 7th century. However, that claim is disputed, and competing hypotheses date the event between the 6th and the 9th centuries.<ref name="Mužić-249-293">{{cite book|author=Ivan Mužić|title=Hrvatska povijest devetoga stoljeća|language=hr|url= http://www.muzic-ivan.info/hrvatska_povijest.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626055557/http://www.muzic-ivan.info/hrvatska_povijest.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-26 |url-status=live|isbn=978-953-263-034-3|year=2007|publisher=Naklada Bošković|pages=249–293}}</ref> Following the establishment of a [[personal union of Croatia and Hungary]] in 1102,<ref name="HR-HU-Heka">{{cite journal|journal=Scrinia Slavonica|issn=1332-4853|publisher=Hrvatski institut za povijest – Podružnica za povijest Slavonije, Srijema i Baranje|title= Hrvatsko-ugarski odnosi od sredinjega vijeka do nagodbe iz 1868. s posebnim osvrtom na pitanja Slavonije|language=hr|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=68144|author= Ladislav Heka|date=October 2008|volume=8|issue=1|pages=152–173}}</ref> and the joining of the [[Habsburg Empire]] in 1527,<ref name="Povijest-saborovanja">{{cite web|url=http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?sec=404 |title=Povijest saborovanja |language=hr |publisher=[[Sabor]] |access-date=18 October 2010 |archive-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202061135/http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?sec=404}}</ref> the Hungarian and German-speaking population of Croatia began gradually increasing in number. The processes of [[Magyarization]] and [[Germanization]] varied in intensity but persisted to the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLfX1q3kJzgC|title=Ethnic groups and population changes in twentieth-century Central-Eastern Europe|author=Piotr Eberhardt|isbn=978-0-7656-0665-5|publisher=[[M.E. Sharpe]]|year=2003|page=266}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Review of Croatian History|publisher=Croatian Institute of History|issn=1845-4380|volume=4|issue=1|date=December 2008|author=Ante Čuvalo|title=Josip Jelačić – Ban of Croatia|pages=13–27|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=77559}}</ref> The [[Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War|Ottoman conquests]] initiated a westward migration of parts of the Croatian population;<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Migracijske I Etničke Teme|issn=1333-2546|publisher=Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies|author=Ivan Jurković|language=hr|pages=147–174|title=Klasifikacija hrvatskih raseljenika za trajanja osmanske ugroze (od 1463. do 1593.)|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=11913|volume=19|issue=2–3|date=September 2003}}</ref> the [[Burgenland Croats]] are direct descendants of some of those settlers.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Croatian Cultural Association in Burgenland|url=http://www.hkd.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=102&lang=hr|language=hr|title=Povijest Gradišćanskih Hrvatov|access-date=17 October 2011|archive-date=14 November 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114132821/http://www.hkd.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=102&lang=hr}}</ref> To replace the fleeing Croats the Habsburgs called on the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] populations of [[Bosnia]] and [[Serbia]] to provide military service in the [[Croatian Military Frontier]]. Serb migration into this region peaked during the [[Great Serb Migrations]] of 1690 and 1737–39.<ref>{{cite book|author1=[[John R. Lampe]]|author2=Marvin R. Jackson|title=Balkan economic history, 1550–1950: from imperial borderlands to developing nations|page= 62|publisher=[[Indiana University Press]]|year=1982|isbn=978-0-253-30368-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtW2axOSn10C}}</ref> Similarly, [[Venetian Republic]] rule in [[Istria]] and in [[Dalmatia]], following the [[Cretan War (1645–1669)|Fifth]] and the [[Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War]]s ushered gradual growth of Italian speaking population in those areas.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frederic Chapin Lane|title=Venice, a Maritime Republic|publisher=JHU Press|year=1973|isbn=978-0-8018-1460-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQpU2JGJCMwC|page=409}}</ref> Following the collapse of [[Austria-Hungary]] in 1918, the Hungarian population declined, especially in the areas north of the [[Drava]] river, where they represented the majority before [[World War I]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLfX1q3kJzgC|title=Ethnic groups and population changes in twentieth-century Central-Eastern Europe|author=Piotr Eberhardt|isbn=978-0-7656-0665-5|publisher=[[M.E. Sharpe]]|year=2003|pages=288–295}}</ref>

The period between 1890 and World War I was marked by large economic emigration from Croatia to the [[United States]], and particularly to the areas of [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], [[Cleveland, Ohio]], and [[Chicago, Illinois]]. Besides the United States, the main destination of the migrants was [[South America]], especially [[Argentina]], [[Chile]], [[Bolivia]] and [[Peru]]. It is estimated that 500,000 people left Croatia during this period. After World War I, the main focus of emigration shifted to [[Canada]], where about 15,000 people settled before the onset of [[World War II]].<ref name="Geografija-migrations">{{cite web|url=http://www.geografija.hr/clanci/1225/iseljavanje-hrvata-u-amerike-te-juznu-afriku|language=hr|title=Iseljavanje Hrvata u Amerike te Južnu Afriku|author=Jelena Lončar|date=22 August 2007|publisher=Croatian Geographic Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825112943/http://www.geografija.hr/clanci/1225/iseljavanje-hrvata-u-amerike-te-juznu-afriku|archive-date=25 August 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="MVPEI-Canada">{{cite web|publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (Croatia)]]|url=http://www.mvpei.hr/hmiu/tekst.asp?q=02hi-hi11|title=Hrvatsko iseljeništvo u Kanadi|language=hr|access-date=5 November 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121227213839/http://www.mvpei.hr/hmiu/tekst.asp?q=02hi-hi11|archive-date=27 December 2012}}</ref> During World War II and in the period immediately following the war, there were further significant demographic changes as the German-speaking population, the [[Volksdeutsche]], were either forced or otherwise compelled to leave—reducing their number from the prewar German population of [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] of 500,000, living in parts of present-day Croatia and Serbia, to the figure of 62,000 recorded in the 1953 census.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Germans and the East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IHAcEB8jh1AC|author1=Charles W. Ingrao|author2=Franz A. J. Szabo|publisher=[[Purdue University Press]]|year=2008|isbn=978-1-55753-443-9|page=357}}</ref>
[[File:VenetianDalmatia1797.jpg|thumb|Austrian linguistic map from 1896. In green the areas where [[Slavs]] were the majority of the population, in orange the areas where [[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]] were the majority of the population. The boundaries of [[Venetian Dalmatia]] in 1797 are delimited with blue dots.]]
[[File:Italians leave Pola.jpg|thumb|[[Istrian Italians]] leave [[Pula|Pola]] in 1947 during the Istrian-Dalmatian exodus.]]

After the fall of [[Napoleon]] (1814), Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia were annexed to the [[Austrian Empire]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coordinamentoadriatico.it/lottocento-austriaco/|title=L'ottocento austriaco|date=7 March 2016|access-date=11 May 2021|language=it}}</ref> Many [[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]] looked with sympathy towards the [[Risorgimento]] movement that fought for the unification of Italy.<ref name="corsadelricordo">{{cite web|url=http://www.corsadelricordo.it/la-storia|title=Trieste, Istria, Fiume e Dalmazia: una terra contesa|access-date=2 June 2021|language=it}}</ref> However, after the [[Third Italian War of Independence]] (1866), when the [[Veneto]] and [[Friuli]] regions were ceded by the [[Austrian Empire|Austrians]] to the newly formed [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom Italy]], Istria and Dalmatia remained part of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic. This triggered the gradual rise of [[Italian irredentism]] among many Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, who demanded the unification of the [[Julian March]], [[Kvarner]] and [[Dalmatia]] with Italy. The Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia supported the Italian [[Risorgimento]]: as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slav communities of Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia.<ref name="ReferenceB">''Die Protokolle des Österreichischen Ministerrates 1848/1867. V Abteilung: Die Ministerien Rainer und Mensdorff. VI Abteilung: Das Ministerium Belcredi'', Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst 1971</ref>

During the meeting of the Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]] outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at the [[Germanization]] or [[Slavization]] of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence:<ref>''Die Protokolle des Österreichischen Ministerrates 1848/1867. V Abteilung: Die Ministerien Rainer und Mensdorff. VI Abteilung: Das Ministerium Belcredi'', Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst 1971, vol. 2, p. 297. Citazione completa della fonte e traduzione in Luciano Monzali, ''Italiani di Dalmazia. Dal Risorgimento alla Grande Guerra'', Le Lettere, Firenze 2004, p. 69.)</ref>

{{blockquote|text=His Majesty expressed the precise order that action be taken decisively against the influence of the Italian elements still present in some regions of the Crown and, appropriately occupying the posts of public, judicial, masters employees as well as with the influence of the press, work in [[Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol|South Tyrol]], [[Dalmatia]] and [[Austrian Littoral|Littoral]] for the Germanization and Slavization of these territories according to the circumstances, with energy and without any regard. His Majesty calls the central offices to the strong duty to proceed in this way to what has been established.|author=|source=Franz Joseph I of Austria, Council of the Crown of 12 November 1866<ref name="ReferenceB">''Die Protokolle des Österreichischen Ministerrates 1848/1867. V Abteilung: Die Ministerien Rainer und Mensdorff. VI Abteilung: Das Ministerium Belcredi'', Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst 1971</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Jürgen Baurmann, Hartmut Gunther and Ulrich Knoop| title=Homo scribens : Perspektiven der Schriftlichkeitsforschung | year= 1993 |isbn= 3484311347|page=279| publisher=Walter de Gruyter |language=de|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l3tCTXoeAysC&pg=279}}</ref>}}

[[Istrian Italians]] made up about a third of the population in Istria in 1900.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Istria | volume= 14 | pages = 886–887 |short= 1}}</ref> Dalmatia, especially its maritime cities, once had a substantial local ethnic Italian population ([[Dalmatian Italians]]). In Dalmatia, there was a constant decline in the Italian population, in a context of repression that also took on violent connotations.<ref>{{cite book|author=Raimondo Deranez|url=http://xoomer.alice.it/histria/storiaecultura/testiedocumenti/bombardieritesti/particolari_dalmazia.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121209103555/http://xoomer.alice.it/histria/storiaecultura/testiedocumenti/bombardieritesti/particolari_dalmazia.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 December 2012|title=Particolari del martirio della Dalmazia|publisher=Stabilimento Tipografico dell'Ordine|location=Ancona|year=1919|language=it}}</ref> During this period, Austrians carried out an aggressive [[anti-Italian]] policy through a forced Slavization of Dalmatia.<ref>{{cite book|title= La campagna del 1866 nei documenti militari austriaci: operazioni terrestri|publisher= [[University of Padova]] |author= Angelo Filipuzzi|page=396|year=1966|language=it}}{{No ISBN}}</ref> According to Austrian census, the Dalmatian Italians formed 12.5% of the population in 1865.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal|last=Peričić|first=Šime|date=2003-09-19|title=O broju Talijana/talijanaša u Dalmaciji XIX. stoljeća|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/12136|journal=Radovi Zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Zadru|language=hr|issue=45|pages=342|issn=1330-0474}}</ref> In the 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, Istria had a population of 57.8% Slavic-speakers (Croat and Slovene), and 38.1% Italian speakers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.omm1910.hu/?%2Fde%2Fdatenbank |title=Spezialortsrepertorium der österreichischen Länder I-XII, Wien, 1915–1919 |access-date=10 May 2021 |archive-date=29 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529164005/http://www.omm1910.hu/?%2Fde%2Fdatenbank |url-status=dead }}</ref> For the Austrian [[Kingdom of Dalmatia]], (i.e. [[Dalmatia]]), the 1910 numbers were 96.2% Slavic speakers and 2.8% Italian speakers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.omm1910.hu/?/de/datenbank|title=Spezialortsrepertorium der österreichischen Länder I-XII, Wien, 1915–1919|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529164005/http://www.omm1910.hu/?%2Fde%2Fdatenbank|archive-date=2013-05-29}}</ref> In [[Rijeka]] the Italians were the relative majority in the municipality (48.61% in 1910), and in addition to the large Croatian community (25.95% in the same year), there was also a fair Hungarian minority (13.03%). According to the official Croatian census of 2011, there are {{formatnum:2445}} Italians in Rijeka (equal to 1.9% of the total population).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dzs.hr/default_e.htm|title=Croatian Bureau of Statistics|access-date=27 February 2019}}</ref>

The Italian population in Dalmatia was concentrated in the major coastal cities. In the city of [[Split, Croatia|Split]] in 1890 there were {{formatnum:1969}} Dalmatian Italians (12.5% of the population), in [[Zadar]] {{formatnum:7423}} (64.6%), in [[Šibenik]] {{formatnum:1018}} (14.5%), in [[Kotor]] {{formatnum:623}} (18.7%) and in [[Dubrovnik]] {{formatnum:331}} (4.6%).<ref>Guerrino Perselli, ''I censimenti della popolazione dell'Istria, con Fiume e Trieste e di alcune città della Dalmazia tra il 1850 e il 1936'', Centro di Ricerche Storiche – Rovigno, Unione Italiana – Fiume, Università Popolare di Trieste, Trieste-Rovigno, 1993</ref> In other Dalmatian localities, according to Austrian censuses, Dalmatian Italians experienced a sudden decrease: in the twenty years 1890–1910, in [[Rab (island)|Rab]] they went from 225 to 151, in [[Vis (island)|Vis]] from 352 to 92, in [[Pag (island)|Pag]] from 787 to 23, completely disappearing in almost all the inland locations.

The [[Istrian–Dalmatian exodus]] ({{Langx|it|esodo giuliano dalmata}}; {{Langx|sl|istrsko-dalmatinski eksodus}}; {{Langx|hr|istarsko-dalmatinski egzodus}}) was the post-[[World War II]] exodus and departure of local ethnic [[Italians]] ([[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]]) as well as ethnic [[Croats]] from [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. The emigrants, who had lived in the now Yugoslav territories of the [[Julian March]] ([[Karst Region]] and [[Istria]]), [[Kvarner]] and [[Dalmatia]], largely went to [[Italy]], but some joined the [[Italian diaspora]] in the [[Americas]], [[Australia]] and [[South Africa]].<ref name="rainews">{{cite web|url=https://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/articoli/giorno-ricordo-10-febbraio-2004-2014-dieci-anni-strage-foibe-eccidio-tito-comunisti-slavi-esodo-giuliano-dalmata-77ba65a1-a1e5-460e-bb57-946819b4b905.html|title=Il Giorno del Ricordo|date=10 February 2014 |access-date=16 October 2021|language=it}}</ref><ref name="ilgiornale">{{cite web|url=https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/spettacoli/lesodo-giuliano-dalmata-e-quegli-italiani-fuga-che-nacquero-1639585.html|title=L'esodo giuliano-dalmata e quegli italiani in fuga che nacquero due volte|date=5 February 2019 |access-date=24 January 2023|language=it}}</ref> According to various sources, the exodus is estimated to have amounted to between 230,000 and 350,000 Italians (the others being ethnic Slovenes and Croats who chose to maintain [[Italian citizenship]])<ref>{{cite web |first=Benedetta |last=Tobagi |url=http://www.treccani.it/scuola/lezioni/storia/la_repubblica_italiana.html |title=La Repubblica italiana &#124; Treccani, il portale del sapere |publisher=Treccani.it |access-date=28 January 2015}}</ref> leaving the areas in the aftermath of the conflict.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_VCBtYq1H4C&pg=PA11|title=Istria|page=11|author1=Thammy Evans  |author2=Rudolf Abraham |year=2013|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides |isbn=9781841624457|name-list-style=amp }}</ref><ref name="query.nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html|title=Election Opens Old Wounds in Trieste|author=James M. Markham|date=6 June 1987|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=9 June 2016}}</ref> According to the census organized in [[Croatia]] in 2001 and that organized in [[Slovenia]] in 2002, the Italians who remained in the former [[Yugoslavia]] amounted to 21,894 people (2,258 [[Italian language in Slovenia|in Slovenia]] and 19,636 [[Italians of Croatia|in Croatia]]).<ref name="dzs">{{Cite web|url=http://www.dzs.hr/Eng/censuses/Census2001/Popis/E01_02_02/E01_02_02.html|title=Državni Zavod za Statistiku|language=hr|access-date=10 June 2017}}</ref><ref name="stat">{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.si/Popis2002/en/rezultati/rezultati_red.asp?ter=SLO&st=7|title=Popis 2002|access-date=10 June 2017}}</ref> The number of speakers of Italian is larger if taking into account non-Italians who speak it as a second language.

In addition, since the dissolution of Yugoslavia, a significant portion of the population of Istria opted for a regional declaration in the census instead of a national one. As such, more people have Italian as a first language than those having declared Italian. In 2001, about 500 Dalmatian Italians were counted in Dalmatia. In particular, according to the official Croatian census of 2011, there are 83 Dalmatian Italians in [[Split, Croatia|Split]] (equal to 0.05% of the total population), 16 in [[Šibenik]] (0.03%) and 27 in [[Dubrovnik]] (0.06%).<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.dzs.hr/Eng/censuses/census2011/results/htm/e01_01_04/E01_01_04_zup17.html|title = Central Bureau of Statistics|access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref> According to the official Croatian census of 2021, there are 63 Dalmatian Italians in [[Zadar]] (equal to 0.09% of the total population).<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.dzs.hr/Eng/censuses/census2011/results/htm/e01_01_04/E01_01_04_zup13.html|title = Central Bureau of Statistics|access-date=25 January 2023}}</ref> According to the official Montenegrin census of 2011, there are 31 Dalmatian Italians in [[Kotor]] (equal to 0.14% of the total population).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://monstat.org/userfiles/file/popis2011/saopstenje/saopstenje(1).pdf|title=STANOVNIŠTVO PREMA NACIONALNOJ, ODNOSNO ETNIČKOJ PRIPADNOSTI PO OPŠTINAMA |access-date=10 November 2018}}</ref>

The 1940s and the 1950s in Yugoslavia were marked by colonisation of settlements where the displaced Germans used to live by people from the mountainous parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and [[Montenegro]], and migrations to larger cities spurred on by the development of industry.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[University of Ljubljana]]|url=http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/oddelki/zgodovin/wwwrepe/20th/Migrations%20in%20the%20territory.pdf|title=Migrations in the territory of former Yugoslavia from 1945 until present time|access-date=5 November 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403011317/http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/oddelki/zgodovin/wwwrepe/20th/Migrations%20in%20the%20territory.pdf|archive-date=3 April 2012}}</ref> {{failed verification|date=March 2013}} In the 1960s and 1970s, another wave of economic migrants left Croatia. They largely moved to Canada, [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]] and [[Western Europe]]. During this period, 65,000 people left for Canada,<ref name="MVPEI-Canada"/> and by the mid-1970s there were 150,000 Croats who moved to Australia.<ref name="MVPEI-Australia">{{cite web|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (Croatia)|url=http://www.mvpei.hr/hmiu/tekst.asp?q=02hi-hi02|title=Hrvatsko iseljeništvo u Australiji|language=hr|access-date=5 November 2011|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217225537/http://www.mvpei.hr/hmiu/tekst.asp?q=02hi-hi02|archive-date=17 February 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Particularly large European emigrant communities of Croats exist in [[Germany]], [[Austria]] and [[Switzerland]], which largely stem from the 1960s and 1970s migrations.<ref name="MVPEI-Diaspora">{{cite web|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (Croatia)|url=http://www.mvpei.hr/hmiu/tekst.asp?q=02hi-hi00|title=Stanje hrvatskih iseljenika i njihovih potomaka u inozemstvu|language=hr|access-date=5 November 2011|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217160006/http://www.mvpei.hr/hmiu/tekst.asp?q=02hi-hi00|archive-date=17 February 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A series of significant migrations came as a result of the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. In 1991, more than 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were displaced by the Croatian Serb forces or fled the violence in areas with significant Serb populations.<ref name="United Nations"/> During the final days of the war, in 1995, between 120,000<ref name="Erlanger"/> and 200,000 Serbs<ref name="Prodger"/> fled the country following the [[Operation Storm]]. Ten years after the war, only a small portion of Serb refugees returned out of the 400,000 displaced during the entire war.<ref name="OSCE-Reform"/> Most of the Serbs in Croatia who remained never lived in areas occupied during the Croatian War of Independence. Serbs have been only partially re-settled in the regions they previously inhabited; some of these areas were later settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref name="Index-Cro-Refugees"/><ref name="PresidentRH-refugees"/>

Significant migrations have been happening after the [[accession of Croatia to the European Union]], with a persistent growth since 2013, and the population leaving is largely younger and more educated.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/anketa-biste-li-voljeli-da-vam-dijete-ode-na-rad-u-inozemstvo---539013.html | language = hr | work = [[Dnevnik Nove TV]] | title = U jednoj godini Hrvatsku napustilo gotovo 50.000 ljudi: "Odlaze mladi i obrazovani ljudi koji imaju djecu, obitelj i – posao!" | date = 31 January 2019 | access-date = 15 December 2022 }}</ref>

===Demographic losses in the 20th century wars and pandemics===
In addition to demographic losses through significant migrations, the population of Croatia suffered significant losses due to wars and epidemics. In the 20th century alone, there were several such events. The first was World War I, when the loss of the population of Croatia amounted to an estimated 190,000 persons, or about 5.5% of the total population recorded by the 1910 census.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Jutarnji list]] |url=http://www.jutarnji.hr/atraktivan-vodic-kroz-zaboravljeni-i-davno-izgubljeni-rat/166497/ |language=hr |title=Atraktivan vodič kroz zaboravljeni i davno izgubljeni rat|date=15 December 2006 |author=Ivica Radoš|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912220236/http://www.jutarnji.hr/atraktivan-vodic-kroz-zaboravljeni-i-davno-izgubljeni-rat/166497/ |archive-date=12 September 2014}}</ref> The [[1918 flu pandemic]] started to take its toll in Croatia in July 1918, with peaks of the disease occurring in October and November. Available data is scarce, but it is estimated that the pandemic caused at least 15,000–20,000 deaths.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Radovi Zavoda Za Hrvatsku Povijest|issn=0353-295X|publisher=[[University of Zagreb]], Faculty of Philosophy, Croatian History Institute|volume=38|issue=1|date=November 2006|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=79285|author=Goran Hutinec|language=hr|title=Odjeci epidemije "španjolske gripe" 1918. godine u hrvatskoj javnosti|pages=227–242}}</ref> Around 295,000 people were killed on the territory of present-day Croatia during World War II, according to the demographer [[Bogoljub Kočović]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Tomasevich|first=Jozo|author-link=Jozo Tomasevich|year=2001|title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, California|isbn=978-0-8047-3615-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC|page=738}}</ref> The demise of the armed forces of the [[Independent State of Croatia]] and of the civilians accompanying the troops at the end of World War II was followed by the [[Yugoslav death march of Nazi collaborators]]. A substantial number of people were executed, but the exact number is disputed. The claims range from 12,000 to 15,000 to as many as 80,000 killed in May 1945.<ref>{{cite book|title=Yugoslavia's ruin: the bloody lessons of nationalism, a patriot's warning|author=Cvijeto Job|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yH3Hz2AXonwC|page=28|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7425-1784-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Balkans: nationalism, war, and the Great Powers, 1804-1999|author=[[Misha Glenny]]|url=https://archive.org/details/balkansnationali00mish|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/balkansnationali00mish/page/530 530]|publisher=Viking|year=2000|isbn=978-0-670-85338-0}}</ref> Finally, approximately 20,000 were killed or went missing during the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. The figure pertains only to those persons who would have been recorded by the 1991 census as living in Croatia.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Ivo Goldstein]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSxJdE4MYo4C|title=Croatia: A History|year=1999|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-525-1|page=256}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.war-memorial.net/mem_det.asp?ID=164 |title=Killed and missing persons from the territories of Republic Croatia and former Republic of Serb Krayina &#124; the Polynational War Memorial|work=Polynational War Memorial}}</ref>