THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF CROATIAN ECONOMY COMPARED WITH EU MEMBER COUNTRIES

Abstract

The modern world is witnessing change on an unprecedented scale, driven by rapid technological advancement and increasingly unpredictable economic and social landscape. Against this background of increasing complexity and volatility of change, there is a need to embrace it and take advantage of the opportunities it brings. Changes brought about by the emergence of digital technologies have prompted the need for digital transformation, not only of the economy, but also of society as a whole. The aim of this paper is to analyse the state of digitalisation in the economy of the Republic of Croatia and compare its digital competitiveness to the economies of other European Union Member States. An analysis of the digital competitiveness of Croatia was conducted using the Croatian Digital Index (Hrvatski Digitalni Indeks), the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), and the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking. The results indicate that the Croatian economy has not yet reached the expected level of competitiveness compared to other EU economies.