engleski

Living on Croatian islands - Perceptions and realities of island development policy

The Croatian islands make the second-largest archipelago in the Mediterranean. There are 1244 islands (78 islands, 524 islets, and 642 rocks and rocks awash) that are situated in a range of 450 km along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. The total area covers 3300 km2 (about 5.8 % of Croatian mainland territory) and the length of their coast is 4057 km. Twenty of these islands occupy an area larger than 20 km2 each, and the other 58 ones have a surface from 1 km2 to 20 km2. There are 47 islands that are permanently inhabited. Administratively, islands belong to seven coastal counties and 51 island towns/municipalities. Several small islands are in the jurisdiction of seven coastal cities. By the Constitution, islands are considered as a region of special protection and unique value. Islands specificities require development policy that takes account of demographic, economic, environmental, and other island issues. In the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, island development policy becomes even more challenging and complex. This paper aims to analyse the attitudes and perceptions of the islanders about the living conditions on the island and the impact of public policies on island development. Identifying the problems from the local perspective helps us to evaluate the success of island development policy. Effective island policy increases the quality of life of the islanders while respecting island specifics. For this purpose, the results of a survey conducted on a sample of the inhabitants of Croatian islands conducted in 2020 are used. The surveys were conducted using the online tool LimeSurvey. The results indicate that 42 percent of the islanders think that living conditions on the islands are not improving. Most of the islanders think that government policy does not encourage island development. The paper also identifies factors that are responsible for differences in attitudes and perceptions of islanders.

Islands, Living conditions, Development policy.

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