According to a recently released annual report on global safety, Croatia is considered the 19th safest country in the world.
The “2025 Global Peace Index”, produced by the Sydney based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), claims Croatia has dropped one spot since last year. It is replaced by Australia. The latter was in 19th spot on the 2024 Global Peace Index (GPI) list.
Now in its 19th year, the GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness. It covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population.
In this SECOND instalment of a three-part series, the Hrvatski vjesnik takes a look at three separate case studies of young Australian Croatian returnee families. It explores their own perceptions of how safe Croatia is for young families…
The perfect place to raise a family
Back in 2022, in an article for the ‘Total Croatia’ online portal, ex-Sydneysider Eugene Brčić Jones, who now calls Zagreb home, admitted that he loved that Croatia was moving forward despite all the corruption and complaining.
“It’s the perfect place to raise a family and socialise often with friends. It’s safe and has the ideal amount of tradition and contemporary sophistication,” Brčić Jones said in the article.
Three years later, Brčić Jones reiterates that safety was a major factor for moving to Croatia permanently. He moved in 2017 with his wife Michelle and two daughters, Eden and Emerson.
“Indeed, moving to Croatia due to safety conditions, particularly for children is perhaps the leading reason for many returnees from diaspore,” he said.
“Safety goes hand in hand with freedom, as children here live the carefree type of youth that we experienced in the 70s and 80s in Australia,” continued Brčić Jones.
“My kids have been going to and back from school by themselves since first class. Nowadays, my 10- and 11-year-old girls often do not come home from school till after daylight ends. For instance, 9pm (in summer) as they continue on with friends to the local parks to play.
“My Aussie wife had fears early on, as it was unheard of for her. However, now she also acknowledges the rare safe conditions that are probably without peer anywhere in the world.
Things are changing in Zagreb
According to Brčić Jones, it is not uncommon to see teenage girls in Zagreb to walking home from late parties at 2am or even 3am.
He did admit, though, that things are starting to change in the Croatian capital in terms of public safety.
“There is some concern, with increased immigration, that this privilege may decline down the track. But so far, it is still noticeably a very secure environment,” he concluded.
Interestingly, Croatia’s neighbour Serbia, meanwhile, is ranked 54th on the Index.
Although, with all the current civil unrest and the ongoing anti-Vucic government protests occurring in Belgrade, that figure has likely dropped rather significantly. The unrest is also reported in other parts of the country in recent months.
Overall, according to the report, the average level of country peacefulness deteriorated by 0.36 per cent in the 2025 Global Peace Index. This is the sixth consecutive year that global peacefulness has deteriorated.
