Maternity benefits

Maternity benefits in Croatia are regulated by the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits (Official Gazette nos. 152/22 and 34/25).

The right to maternity and parental benefits can only be realised if you have compulsory health insurance regulated by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) and if you meet other prescribed conditions.

Maternity and parental benefits are provided to the mother and father of the child and other persons who, on the basis of a decision of the competent authority, exercise parental care, the adoptive parent of the child, guardian, foster parent or other natural person to whom the minor has been entrusted for daily care by a decision of the competent authority, under the conditions and in the manner determined by the said Act.

MORE – Maternity and parental benefits | HZZO

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. Who are the beneficiaries of the right to maternity and parental benefits in Croatia?

The beneficiary of the maternity and parental support rights is the child’s parent or an equivalent person.

All beneficiaries are divided into three categories, depending on their employment status.

Thus, an employed and self-employed beneficiary is one who:

Has the status of an insured person under the compulsory health and pension insurance on the basis of employment under regulations governing employment. This category includes the following persons:

Employed persons, civil servants and employees, and persons employed on the territory of the Republic of Croatia who are equal to them according to a special regulation;

Persons with a place of residence, or approved permanent residence, or long-term residence in the Republic of Croatia employed in another Member State or contracting state who do not have health insurance with the health insurance holder of that Member State or contracting state, or who are not compulsorily insured under the regulations of the country of work in the manner specified by European Union regulations or international agreements on social insurance.

Has the status of an insured person under the compulsory health and pension insurance on the basis of self-employment. This category includes the following persons:

Persons who are engaged in the economic activity of crafts and equivalent activities on the territory of the Republic of Croatia;
Persons who independently perform a professional activity in the form of a liberal profession;
Persons who are engaged in agriculture and forestry as their sole or main occupation in the Republic of Croatia, if they are taxpayers of income tax or profit tax, and they are not insured on the basis of employment or as beneficiaries of pension rights;
Persons engaged in agricultural activity as their sole or main occupation, who are entered in the register of agricultural family farms as a holder or a member of an agricultural family farm, and who are not insured on the basis of employment, or as beneficiaries of pension rights, or are a full-time student;
religious officials for a religious community registered in the records of religious communities kept by the competent state authority, if they are not insured on the basis of employment.

The following persons are also considered to be employed parents:

A parent who is elected or appointed to a permanent position in government bodies or local government units’ bodies, if they receive a salary for this work, and if they have the status of a person insured under compulsory health and pension insurance on that basis;
A parent who is a member of the management board or an executive director of a company, a liquidator, or a manager in a cooperative, if they have the status of a person insured under compulsory health and pension insurance on that basis;
A parent who is in vocational training without commencing employment, i.e., who is being trained for employment with the possibility of using active employment policy measures in accordance with a special regulation, and who has the status of a person insured under compulsory health and pension insurance on that basis;
A parent who is a parent caretaker, or a caretaker pursuant to the act governing social welfare, and who has the recognized status of a person insured under compulsory health and pension insurance on that basis;
A parent who is providing care and assistance to a Croatian war veteran from the Homeland War, and who has a recognized status of a person insured under compulsory health and pension insurance on that basis.

Unemployed beneficiaries, farmers who are not subject to income tax and profit tax, beneficiaries who earn other income and

Beneficiaries outside the work system – a pension beneficiary, a beneficiary of the right to occupational rehabilitation, a beneficiary of the right to a disability pension due to professional incapacity for work, a person unable to work, a full-time student in secondary education, a full-time student in higher education… and all other persons insured with the Croatian Health Insurance Institute (HZZO) who cannot exercise the right as an employed or self-employed parent, on the basis of other income, as an unemployed parent, farmer, etc.).

2. How can adoptive parents, guardians and foster parents exercise their rights to maternity and parental benefits?

An adoptive parent exercises this right on the basis of an adoption order. In accordance with their employment status, they can exercise their right to one of the following: adoption leave, the second adoptive parent leave, exemption from work for unemployed adoptive parents, or care for an adopted child as a person outside the work system. During this time, the adoptive parent receives a salary compensation, or cash benefit or financial assistance, depending on which of the above rights they are exercising.

A guardian or other natural person is entrusted with the day-to-day custody of a minor or who is exercising parental care by a decision of the competent authority. That person also exercises parental rights depending on their employment status, provided that they have the status of a person insured under compulsory health insurance, that the child lives with them in a joint household, and that the biological parent has not previously exercised these rights.

A foster parent who is also an employed or self-employed person, provided that they have the status of insured person in mandatory health insurance and if they provide accommodation to the fostered child on the basis of an executive decision of the competent authority on placement of the child in a foster family, is entitled to time off benefits during the use of foster care leave, the right to parental leave, the right to parental leave in the form of right to work part-time, the right to work part-time for the purpose of intensified care of the child, and the right to leave or the right to work part-time for the care of a child with developmental disabilities.

An employed and a self-employed foster parent is entitled, among the other rights listed above, to foster leave for a continuous period of six months for a child up to seven years of age, or one month for a child up to fourteen years of age. The period of this leave is extended by an additional 60 days in the case of simultaneous accommodation of two or more children, or a child who, in accordance with regulations on expert assessment and assessment methodologies, is considered a child with developmental disabilities.