Updated: July 2010

Social insurance is part of the social security system. Every researcher with a permanent or temporary residence must be affiliated to the Croatian social security system.
The social security system is organized and implemented at the national level by state bodies/public institutions.

There are three main insurance-based schemes (social security branches):
Pension insurance –covers risks of old age, invalidity, employment injury and occupational disease, and death.
Health insurance – covers the risk of temporary incapacity for work due to sickness or maternity and health care
Unemployment insurance – covers the risk of unemployment and also promotes employment and the rehabilitation process of unemployed persons disabled at work (not available to foreigners).

The main principles of these social security branches are that these are public, general and compulsory. They cover the insured persons and are based on contributions paid by employees, employers, self-employed persons, and are partly financed by the State budget. They are based upon solidarity of members, except for the second pillar of funded pension insurance.

There is no special insurance for work injuries and occupational diseases. They are regulated under general programmes for pension and disability insurance and under general health insurance and medical care programmes.

The application process for foreigners in the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute and the Croatian Institute for Health Insurance are the same as the application procedures for workers who are Croatian citizens.
Foreigners who establish regular working relationship with the Croatian employers pay contributions for compulsory insurance in the same way as workers who are Croatian citizens.
If their country has signed an Agreement on social security with Croatia, under certain conditions their benefits in the Croatian pension insurance can be transferred and added to the rights thay realize by paying contributions to their state. If they have dependent family members, that status must be proven. Problems can arise when family members do not have a residence permit.

Bilateral agreements on social security
In order to establish his/her right to pension, the time spent in another country is aggregated for the benefit of the foreign researcher. Croatian Social funds cooperate with other countries on the principle of reciprocity. A foreign researcher will keep his/her pension rights during mobility to Croatia, and the period during which he/she worked in Croatia, if not otherwise stipulated by the Agreement on Social Security between Croatia and their home country.

The Republic of Croatia co-ordinates the social security system with 24 countries in total: Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, France*, Poland*, UK*, Denmark, Sweden*, Macedonia, Switzerland, Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Australia, Norway*, Bulgaria.

An Agreement is signed and published but not yet in force with Turkey. The negotiations on bilateral agreements are in course with Argentina, Romania, New Zealand and Chile. Finally agreed, but not yet signed, are the texts of agreements with France and the UK.

*Croatia is currently negotiating bilateral Agreements with France, Poland, UK, Sweden and Norway; however, until their completion, the Agreements those countries signed with the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are still in force by the rule of succession.

List of international agreements between Croatia and other countries (in Croatian)

Principles applied in all agreements are:
- Equal treatment
- Aggregation of completed insurance and residence periods
- Pro rata temporis
- Export of benefits
- Equivalence of territories to avoid overlapping of benefits
- Maintenance of acquired rights and rights in course of acquisition

The European Social Charter
The European Convention on Human Rights guarantees civil and political human rights. The European Social Charter, its natural complement, guarantees social and economic human rights. It was adopted in 1961 and revised in 1996.
The rights guaranteed by the Charter concern all individuals in their daily lives:
• Housing
• Health
• Education
• Employment
• Legal and social protection
• Free movement of persons
• Non-discrimination

Croatia ratified the European Social Charter as well as the 1988 Additional Protocol which adds new rights on 26/02/2003. Croatia has accepted 40 of the Charter’s 72 paragraphs, and 3 of the 4 articles of the Protocol.
Croatia has not signed nor ratified the Revised Charter.