As of 1st January 2020, Croatia took over the EU Council Presidency for the first time. With a population of 4.1 million, Croatia is one of the smaller EU Member States.
In 2018, the Croatian gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 2.7%, which was slightly above the average in the European Union. The Public debt decreased in the same year to 75% of the GDP. The unemployment rate of 15 to 74 year old people was slightly above EU average. However, Croatias private sector gross monthly earnings (1,057 euros) were higher than in most other Eastern European EU Member States in 2014. With a value of 12% Croatia reported a rather small difference in gross hourly earnings between men and women (Gender Pay Gap) in the EU in 2017.
With more than 1.1 million tourism beds in Croatia was one of the most popular holiday destinations within the European Union in 2018.