Prevalence of Substance Use Among the General Population: Situation in Croatia and Comparison with Other European Countries

Abstract

This paper has two primary aims: to present the data on the
prevalence of licit and illicit substance use among the general
population in the Republic of Croatia and to compare these
prevalence rates with those from other European countries. The
data on the prevalence in Croatia were gathered by empirical
research on a nationally representative sample of Croatian
adults aged 15-64 years (N = 4756). The data on the
prevalence of licit drugs for other European countries were
obtained through secondary analysis of raw data from the
Special Eurobarometer 385 (tobacco) and 331 (alcohol), and
the source of data on illicit drugs was the EMCDDA's Statistical
Bulletin 2012. The results showed that, in Croatia, last month
prevalence of smoking was 37.4%, which is among the highest
in Europe and above the European average (32.4%). In the
month prior to the research, 60.8% of adults in Croatia drank
alcohol, which is among the lower prevalence rates compared
to the other European countries and also lower than the
European average (70.3%). Cannabis was the most widely
used illicit drug in Croatia, 15.6% of adults used it at least once
in their lifetime, which is below the European average (23.7%).