Compare
Croatia vs Serbia
How Croatia and Serbia compare on 38 measures, from 1789 to 2025. The main differences:
- Life expectancy · In 2023, Croatia was higher: 78.6 years against 76.8 years
- GDP per person · In 2025, Croatia was higher: $18,410 against $8,804
- Population · In 2023, Serbia was higher: 6.77 million people against 3.9 million people
- Military spending · In 2025, Serbia was higher: 2.76% of GDP against 2.02% of GDP
- Electoral democracy · In 2025, Croatia was higher: 0.69 of 1 against 0.3 of 1
Every measure
Health
- Life expectancyCroatia: 78.6 years in 2023Serbia: 76.8 years in 2023
- Child mortalityCroatia: 0.6 per 100 live births in 2024Serbia: 0.5 per 100 live births in 2024
- Infant mortalityCroatia: 3.5 per 1,000 live births in 2023Serbia: 4.2 per 1,000 live births in 2023
- Safe drinking waterCroatia: 85.4% in 2007Serbia: 75.1% in 2022
- DepressionCroatia: 2.78% in 2017Serbia: 2.57% in 2017
- Suicide rateCroatia: 11.1 per 100,000 people in 2017Serbia: 12.7 per 100,000 people in 2017
People
- PopulationCroatia: 3.9 million people in 2023Serbia: 6.77 million people in 2023
- Population growthCroatia: -0.34% a year in 2023Serbia: -0.44% a year in 2023
- Fertility rateCroatia: 1.47 births per woman in 2023Serbia: 1.5 births per woman in 2023
- Urban populationCroatia: 57.8% in 2025Serbia: 62.6% in 2025
- Median ageCroatia: 44.8 years in 2023Serbia: 43.9 years in 2023
- People aged 65 and overCroatia: 22.8% in 2023Serbia: 22.3% in 2023
- Net migration rateCroatia: 2.6 per 1,000 people in 2023Serbia: 0.6 per 1,000 people in 2023
Economy
Education
Politics
Conflict
Military
- Military spendingCroatia: 2.02% of GDP in 2025Serbia: 2.76% of GDP in 2025
- Military spending in US dollarsCroatia: $1.93B in 2025Serbia: $2.55B in 2025
- Military spending per personCroatia: $544 in 2025Serbia: $414 in 2025
- Military share of state spendingCroatia: 4.1% of government spending in 2025Serbia: 6.4% of government spending in 2025
- Armed forces personnelCroatia: 20,000 people in 2020Serbia: 32,000 people in 2020
- National powerCroatia: 0.05% of world capability in 2022Serbia: 0.09% of world capability in 2022
- Armed forces, share of workersCroatia: 1.17% of the labour force in 2020Serbia: 1.01% of the labour force in 2020
- Arms importsCroatia: 141 million TIV in 2025Serbia: 146 million TIV in 2025
- Arms exportsCroatia: 53 million TIV in 2024Serbia: 39 million TIV in 2025
Climate
Technology and environment
Each country on its own
Good to know
- Sources: UN, Gapminder and UN IGME, WHO/UNICEF, IHME, World Bank, IMF, UNESCO, Our World in Data, V-Dem, UCDP, SIPRI, IISS, Correlates of War, ERA5, CMIP6, ITU and FAO. Each measure’s page names its own and what it counts.
- Values are drawn on today’s borders. Years without a published value are left empty, never filled in.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time