Egg – a symbol of creation and rebirth

The Croatian Bureau of Statistics wishes you a happy Easter!
 

Which came first - the chicken or the egg? You must have come across this question at least once in your life, which has intrigued us since time immemorial and which tries to explain the relationship between cause and effect. For us statisticians, this mental competition is completely irrelevant, since we have data for both, while eggs, as a symbol of creation and rebirth, are an indispensable part of Easter.

According to agricultural statistics, in the last ten years, the number of hens has been oscillating constantly, and if we compare the first and the last observed year, we can see that their number in 2022 decreased by slightly more than a third compared to 2013.



A similar trend is noticed if we observe the data for hens’ eggs, the produced quantity of which also rises and falls almost alternately within the observed decade.



The history of eggs as culinary food is relatively short - this elixir of life has began to appear on daily menus only since the middle of the 17th century. In recent years, the awareness of the importance of the composition of what we consume has been growing, so it is not surprising that farmers have recognised this sales niche, and the number of organic eggs for consumption has increased significantly compared to the period ten years ago.



The latest available data on eating habits of Croatian citizens, from 2019, show that at that time, an average of 136 eggs were consumed per household member per year. At the end of April, when the publication of data on the basic characteristics of household consumption in 2022 is planned, we will find out whether our habits have changed in the period of three years.



Even the ancient Persians, Egyptians, Romans and Greeks worshiped the egg as a source of new life and often gave each other eggs as a symbol of fertility, birth and the awakening of spring. Apart from decorating them for these holidays, we also eat them, of course, more than usual. Therefore, we will certainly need a lot of them, for which more and more money needs to be allocated every year.



However, no matter how hard we all try to make Easter as special and festive as possible, when it comes to this holiday, which symbolises hope for new beginnings, abundance should not be in the foreground, but exactly the opposite - modesty, humility and the joy of togetherness.

The Croatian Bureau of Statistics wishes you a happy Easter!

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