Croatians becoming more and more tolerant of difference, new research shows

The new research shows that Croatians have become more tolerant in the last ten years.They no longer mind having neighbours who belong to a different race or religion, who are alcoholics, belong to the extreme right or left, have a criminal past, are HIV-infected or are gay.The neighbours that Croatians still cannot stand are drug addicts.These are some of the results of the European Values Survey conducted in 10-year-intervals in 44 states, including Croatia. The results show that in the decade since the last investigation, the Croatians have become more tolerant towards those that could be considered different from them.The survey also shows that Croatians are losing faith in the Church, the army, the education system, the press, the police, the Parliament, the public service, the European Union, NATO, UN, the judiciary and the big companies.The one thing that seems to have retained their faith this time around are the unions.In general those surveyed showed little trust in political parties, the government and the state administration.Most are very proud of being Croatian citizens. They fear the loss of social insurance, that their country will end up paying more and more to the European Union, and that there will be even fewer jobs in Croatia in the future.About 72.6 per cent of them would vote, while only 19.7 would boycott elections, the daily Vecernji List.While certain questions are added to the survey and others removed depending on their relevance to the current situation in the country, the core of the investigation remains the same in order to allow comparison.

Source: Croatian Times Online News