We celebrated 150 years of Croatian statistics

This important anniversary was marked in the presence of Andrej Plenković, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, and many other dignitaries

On 3 October 2025, a celebration of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics was held at Hotel Dubrovnik to mark the 150th anniversary of Croatian statistics. The event was attended by Andrej Plenković, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, along with many dignitaries from state bodies.

In addition to the Prime Minister, the celebration was attended by Velibor Mačkić, envoy of the President of the Republic of Croatia; Ivan Malenica, envoy of the President of the Croatian Parliament; Marija Vučković, Minister of Environmental Protection and Green Transition; Gordan Grlić Radman, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs; Damir Habijan, Minister of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation; as well as state secretaries, directors of state administrative organisations, heads of neighbouring national statistical offices, and representatives of other institutions.

The story of official statistics began back in 1875, when Ban Ivan Mažuranić founded a statistical office and entrusted its management to Milovan Zoričić, the first director of that statistical office. Throughout its history, the Bureau has changed its name several times - from “the Bureau of Statistics and Records”, to “the Bureau of Statistics” and “the Republican Bureau for Statistics”, to its current name - the Croatian Bureau of Statistics - which we have had since 1992. A brief overview of the historical development of the Croatian statistical system was presented in an interesting video animation that shows the most important moments of the Bureau’s activities.




“The mission of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics is to focus on relevant, modern and innovative statistics that credibly reflect the state of social and economic trends, and on the production of high-quality and timely data that are aligned with the needs of our users. Step by step, following our vision, our goal is to ensure that official statistics remain the basis for making informed and quality decisions, continuing to serve society as a reliable source of data", said Lidija Brković, Director General of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, in her address.



"Thank you for presenting statistics in the best possible way as a basis for understanding processes in Croatian society, but also for further steps, especially when we analyse the situation in the country in general, from economic data and the social situation to that which serves as the basis for the National Development Strategy. Truthfulness, accuracy, reliability of your data - this is a condicio sine qua non for us to have confidence in statistics that influences decisions and choices, as well as, ultimately, Croatian development", said Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Mariana Kotzeva, Director General of Eurostat, congratulated on the important anniversary via a video message in which she praised the progress and active participation of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics in the creation of European statistics.

The celebration continued with a panel discussion entitled "The Future of Official Statistics - Opportunities and Challenges in the Digital Age", where participants exchanged views on how official statistics can respond to the challenges and opportunities brought by the modern digital environment.



The participants of the panel discussion were Marija Vučković, Minister of Environmental Protection and Green Transition; Zvonimir Frka-Petešić, Head of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia; Maroje Lang, Vicegovernor of the Croatian National Bank; Saša Drezgić, Dean of the Faculty of Economics in Rijeka, and Lidija Brković, Director General of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.
 

News