HRV · snapshot 2026-08-09

Croatia

Low

Overall risk score

29.4

Percentile of scored universe

20th

Data coverage

93%

vs Australia (16.1)

+13.2

Category breakdown

Political Stability & Governance

Medium
33.7+20.9 vs AU

6 indicators · 100% coverage

Economic Resilience

Medium
36.8+25.7 vs AU

6 indicators · 85% coverage

Financial & Currency Risk

Low
15.1+9.2 vs AU

4 indicators · 73% coverage

Business Environment

Medium
40.2+5.4 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Security & Crime

Low
26.0+0.9 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Climate & Social Compliance

Low
30.6+20.2 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Technology & Digital

Low
22.7+9.0 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Cultural Distance

Insufficient data
no AU baseline

Insufficient data · not in overall score

Key risks and considerations

Croatia rates Low for market entry — an overall risk score of 29.4, less risky than 80% of rated economies and 13 points riskier than Australia.

The main risk drivers are no double-tax agreement with Australia, no investment-treaty protection with Australia and a boom-bust growth record (±5.1 pp over the decade).

Relative strengths: sovereign credit risk, DFAT smartraveller advisory level, current account all rate Low, the least-risky rating band.

Possible mitigations

  • Withholding tax. No double-tax agreement with Australia: model withholding tax on dividends, interest, and royalties into the business case — it can decide the entity-vs-export question.

Generated automatically from this snapshot’s indicator data — a starting point for analysis, not advice.

Indicators

IndicatorValueRisk scoreRating
Political Stability & Governance
Voice & accountability (WGI)68.227.6Medium
Government effectiveness (WGI)65.124.6Low
Regulatory quality (WGI)59.434.9Medium
Rule of law (WGI)63.537.0Medium
Control of corruption (WGI)50.940.3Medium
Political stability & absence of violence/terrorism (WGI PV)75.833.1Medium
Economic Resilience
GDP growth (3-yr average, %)3.7% (3-yr avg)40.0Medium
Growth volatility (10-yr std dev, pp)±5.1 pp74.8High
Government net debt (% of GDP)44.925.0Medium
Inflation (CPI %, vs income-group target)3.740.0Medium
Current account (3-yr average, % of GDP)-1.7% (3-yr avg)15.0Low
FX reserves (months of import cover)Insufficient data
GDP per capita (PPP, current intl $)$50,94625.4Medium
Financial & Currency Risk
Capital-account openness (Chinn-Ito KAOPEN)0.7020.0Low
Currency stability (regime-aware classification)Insufficient data
Sovereign credit risk (OECD country risk classification)Category 0 / 72.0Low
FATF listing (grey / black list status)Not listed0.0Low
Double-tax agreement with AustraliaNone in force100.0Very High
Business Environment
FDI regulatory restrictiveness (OECD FDIRRI)0.0443.1Medium
Logistics performance (World Bank LPI)3.332.6Medium
Business readiness (World Bank B-READY pillar average)70.721.4Low
Investment protection with Australia in force (BIT or FTA investment chapter)None in force100.0Very High
Security & Crime
Armed-conflict intensity (battle deaths per 100k, 5-yr)0.029.7Medium
Intentional homicide rate (per 100k)0.713.4Low
Organised crime pervasiveness (GI-TOC criminality score)5.047.7Medium
DFAT Smartraveller advisory levelLevel 1 — Exercise normal safety precautions10.0Low
Climate & Social Compliance
Physical climate vulnerability (ND-GAIN vulnerability)0.39932.9Medium
Disaster risk (INFORM Risk Index)2.520.9Low
Modern-slavery prevalence (per 1,000)5.247.8Medium
Modern-slavery vulnerability score29.525.3Medium
Technology & Digital
E-government development (UN EGDI)0.916.3Low
Internet users (% of population)83.647.0Medium
Cybercrime origination (World Cybercrime Index)0.010.0Low
Secure internet servers (per million people)29458.617.9Low

Per-indicator ratings are quartile bands of the 0–100 risk score. The Australia column shows the same indicator’s raw value for the Australian baseline in this snapshot.

Cultural distance

GLOBE 2004 societal practices · rated on distance from Australia · not in the overall score

The GLOBE 2004 study did not cover Croatia (~60 societies covered), so no cultural-distance profile is available.

Context — not scored

Unemployment

5.0%

Displayed, never scored: ambiguous for an entrant and unreliable where informal employment dominates. (2025, ILO modelled)

Trade agreement

No Australian FTA in force

Market access is decision-relevant but a benefit, not a risk — kept out of the rating.

Regional advisories

No higher regional advisory levels

DFAT Smartraveller sub-national advice where it exceeds the overall level.

Compare with

A score means little on its own. These economies scored closest to Croatia in this snapshot, which is the fastest way to see whether the rating is telling you something specific or something regional.

All 218 economies · How to read these ratings