Inequality in the distribution of funds of Croatian citizens continued to trend down in 2025. In the observed period, the number of citizens with a positive deposit balance in credit institutions (banks and housing savings banks) increased, as did the total amounts of deposits in all ten decile distribution classes. The amount of deposits in the lower part of distribution (from first to third decile class) and in the upper middle part of distribution (from seventh to ninth decile class) increased the most in relative terms, while in absolute terms growth was strongest in eighth and ninth decile class. At the same time, the share of deposits of citizens from the upper middle part of distribution continued to increase (mostly between 7th and 9th decile class), while the share of those from the very top of distribution decreased, especially in the upper percentile (99% – 100%), in which total funds also decreased in nominal terms.

Since 2023, the Croatian National Bank annually collects data on the balance of funds held by citizens in individual accounts in credit institutions^[1]. This covers the funds of all known holders, resident natural persons, regardless of whether they are in transaction, savings or time accounts. The standard reference date is the end of the year, with the exception of the first collection for which the reference date was 30 June 2023. Although they provide a complete picture of deposits in credit institutions, these data are not the same as the indicators of wealth inequality, as they do not include other forms of financial assets (e.g., units in investment funds, shares, bonds, etc.) or non-financial assets such as real estate. In addition, aggregation is possible only at the level of individual account holders and not at the household level, so direct comparison with usual analyses of income and wealth inequality is not possible. Finally, the analysis covers all citizens with a positive balance in at least one account, regardless of possible simultaneous liabilities to banks.

At the end of 2025, almost 3.5 million citizens had a positive balance in at least one account, an increase by 29 thousand compared to the year before (Table 1). Of the total increase in the number of citizens with deposits, 16.4 thousand are accounted for by the net inflow of citizens with newly opened accounts and 12.6 thousand by the net inflow of citizens who brought their account balance back from overdraft or zero to a positive balance (Table 3).

The total amount of deposits increased from EUR 38.12bn at the end of 2024 to EUR 38.77bn at the end of 2025, an increase of EUR 650m or 1.7%. Funds increased in all parts of the distribution last year, except in the upper 1% of distribution, which recorded a decrease (Figure 2). The relative increase was more pronounced in the lowest and upper middle decile classes^[2]. Thus, in the first three decile classes, total funds increased by 6.5%, while in the classes from seventh to ninth decile they increased by 5.3%. By comparison, funds in fourth to sixth decile class rose by 2.8%, while in the highest decile class this growth stood at 0.4%, with the amount of deposits for the top 1% falling by 2.6%. Observed in absolute terms and by deciles, the strongest rise was recorded in the ninth and the eighth decile class (EUR 311m and EUR 143m, respectively). In the highest decile class, the total increase was EUR 113m; of this amount, it stood at EUR 394m in the 90th to 99th percentile class, while total amount of deposits in the upper percentile dropped by EUR 281m.

In 2025, changes of the share in the total amount of deposits, influenced by a combination of initial levels of the total amount of deposits and relative changes, were most pronounced in the upper part of the distribution, with a reduction in the share of the classes with the highest amounts of deposits at the expense of the classes with slightly lower amounts of deposits. Thus, the share of classes from the seventh to ninth decile, i.e. citizens with individual deposit amounts between EUR 2.4 thousand and EUR 26.7 thousand, increased from 24.8% to 25.7%, up by 0.9 p.p., while the share in total deposits of citizens with deposits of less than EUR 2.4 thousand (first to sixth decile) remained largely unchanged (an increase by 0.03 p.p.). The decrease in the share of the upper decile of distribution, i.e. citizens holding deposits of more than EUR 26.7 thousand, was 0.9 p.p.; of this number, the share of the 90th to 95th percentile class increased by 0.35 p.p., the share of the 95th to 99th percentile class remained largely unchanged (a fall by 0.07 p.p.), while the share of the upper 1% declined from 28.56% to 27.39%, down by 1.2 p.p. (Table 2 and Figure 2).

Table 1 Distribution of citizens’ funds as at 31 December 2025

Notes: The data in the table refer to sole proprietors and natural persons. Also, the data only include deposits of residents for which there is information about their personal identification number (OIB). An overview of the distribution of funds as at 31 December 2024 is available here: https://www.hnb.hr/-/u-2024-nastavak-postupnog-smanjenja-nejednakosti-u-raspodjeli-depozita.
Source: CNB.

Table 2 Comparison of the distribution of citizens’ funds at the end of December 2023, 2024 and 2025

Notes: The data in the table refer to deposits of sole proprietors and natural persons. Also, the data only include deposits of residents for which there is information about their personal identification number (OIB).
Source: CNB.

Table 3 Decomposition of the change in the number of depositors between 2024 and 2025

Notes: The data in the table refer to deposits of sole proprietors and natural persons. Also, the data only include deposits of residents for which there is information about their personal identification number (OIB).
Source: CNB.

Figure 1 Comparison of the distribution of citizens’ funds at the end of 2024 and 2025

Note: The figures above and within the columns show the median amount of deposits in each class shown.
Source: CNB.

Figure 2 Nominal change and change of the share in distribution of citizens’ funds between December 2024 and December 2025 by selected distribution classes

Source: CNB.

1. Previous CNB releases on the distribution of deposits based on microdata are available at https://www.hnb.hr/-/u-2024-nastavak-postupnog-smanjenja-nejednakosti-u-raspodjeli-depozita, https://www.hnb.hr/-/u-drugoj-polovini-2023-nastavak-blagog-smanjivanja-nejednakosti-u-raspodjeli-depozita and https://www.hnb.hr/-/u-proteklom-desetljecu-blago-smanjena-nejednakost-u-raspodjeli-depozita ↑

2. The decile class represents one tenth of depositors ordered by the amount of deposits, so that the first decile class includes one tenth of depositors with the lowest amounts of deposits, while the tenth decile class includes one tenth of depositors with the highest amounts of deposits. ↑