Croatia´s (hidden) potential – Highly skilled, young remigrants as agents of change

On November 23rd, 2023, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung organized study presentation on „Croatia´s (hidden) potential – Highly skilled, young remigrants as agents of change“ in Zagreb with the Institute for Social Sciences "Ivo Pilar" and the Foundation Znanje na djelu. This study addresses the transnational mobility and migration of Croatian millennials – young people born between 1981 and 1996 who today are between 27 and 42 years of age, the youngest overlapping with the next generation, generation Z (born from 1997 onwards). It inquires specifically into the return paths of Croatian millennials who have intensively engaged in transnational mobility, especially since Croatia’s accession to the European Union in 2013. The main interest of this study is to better understand what motivates highly skilled young Croatian citizens who have gone abroad for further education, work experience, and their professional careers to return to Croatia. The main objective of the study was also to find out what drives young Croats who have grown up and been educated abroad, and perhaps hold another citizenship alongside or instead of the Croatian one, to remigrate to their (family’s) country of origin. In two panel discussions led by researcher Dr. Caroline Hornstein-Tomić from the Institute of Social Science Ivo Pilar and her colleagues Maja Kurilić and Dora Bagić from the Foundation Znanje na djelu, participants discussed the relevance of remigration for Croatia. Also, young Croatian returnees gave examples on who they have successfully managed to build their future in Croatia.