The latest European Commision Statistics (Eurostat) data show that the expected duration of working life in Croatia is among the shortest in the European Union.

Eurostat defines "duration of working life" as the number of years a person aged 15 is expected to be active, either employed or unemployed, on the labour market throughout his/her life.

The expected duration of working life in Croatia was 32.6 years in 2015 which put the country in a group with other EU countries such as Belgium, Poland and Hungary. The working life average in the EU is 35.4 years which was an increase of almost two years in comparison to 2005.

The shortest working life is expected in Italy (30.7 years), Bulgaria (32.1 years) and Greece (32.3 years), whilst the longest working life is expected in Sweden (41.2 years), the Netherlands (39.9 years) and Denmark (39.2 years).

According to Eurostat data in the period between 2005 and 2015 the expected duration of working life recorded an increase in all EU member countries, the most in Malta (+5,1 years), Hungary (+4,2 years) and in Luxembourg (+3,1 years). Eurostat explains this increase with the fact that duration of working life increased more rapidly for women (32,8 years in 2015 compared with 30,2 years in 2005, or +2,6 years) than for men (37,9 years in 2015 and 36,7 years in 2005, or +1.2 year).

In the same decade the duration of working life in Croatia increased by 1,2 years i.e. 1,9 years for women and 0,8 years for men.