HUMAN CAPITAL VALUE IN CROATIA - COMPARISON WITH SELECTED EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Human capital is a core component of national intellectual capital and as such is an important determinant of national competitiveness. Quality of human capital is for a large part determined by formal and informal education. The aim of this paper is to determine the quality of human capital in Croatia on the basis of selected indicators, most of which are related to education. Selected indicators are expressed as fi ve-year averages. Analysis of the quality of human capital is made by comparing Croatia with a group of developed and ex-transition European countries. The results of comparative analysis show that Croatia has unfavorable educational structure; among employees, only every fourth Croatian citizen has high education. Furthermore, relatively small number of students study in Croatia compared to other studied countries. Only 2% of adults participate in lifelong education. This means that awareness about the need for lifelong education among citizens and in enterprises has not yet evolved. Another drawback is that employment in knowledge-intensive sectors is very low. Number of researchers employed in research and development sector in Croatia is low compared to the other studied countries. From the obtained results it can be concluded that human capital in Croatia is not sufficiently educated and skilled to meet the demands of modern economy and contribute to its greater competitiveness.