Rural diversification and socio-economic transformation in Croatia

Abstract

Rural diversification in Croatia is well advanced because many rural families have been able to find work in secondary and tertiary activities without the need to migrate to the towns. Many rural settlements have now attained an urban character although there are regional variations, including a contrast between the continental zone with a relatively high level of commitment to agriculture and the coastal areas, with pronounced ‘deagrarisation’ where the ports and tourist resorts are well developed and the natural resource conditions for agriculture are poor. These variations are examined at the municipality level with reference to two key indicators: the share of nonagricultural population and the share of workers in the total active population. Four categories of socio-economic transformation are recognised: more urbanised, urbanised, less urbanised and rural. The main regional differences between the continental and coastal areas are confirmed with the latter showing a relatively high level of socio-economic transformation through the prominence of more highly urbanised municipalities.