Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Building permits issued. A building permit is an authorisation to start work on a building project. The objective of the building permits indicator is to show the future development of construction activity. Building permit is a document issued by a competent administrative body.
Data are important for: statistical monitoring of short-term changes in the construction activity (number of dwellings, useful floor area), review of interventions into living space, business decision-making in construction and related activities, international comparisons. Data are collected by using the reporting method on the Monthly Report on Building Permits issued (GRAĐ-44a form).
3.2. Classification system
Classification of Types of Constructions – CC, final version, 1997. The National Classification of Types of Constructions (NKVG) has been designed for the needs of statistical surveys in the Republic of Croatia in a way that the structure and contents of all levels of the EU Classification of Types of Constructions (CC) were taken over and some classes were additionally broken down at the fifth level.
In order to meet STS data requirements, data presented according to CC Classification is converted according to CPA ver. 2.1 - Statistical Classification of Products by Activity.
3.3. Coverage - sector
The coverage is defined in terms of constructions rather than activities. The coverage is based on the Classification of Types of Constructions and covers all building permits issued for buildings and civil engineering works.
The coverage is full, that is, statistical survey includes all issued building permits. A comprehensive survey is used as a method of data collection in order to collect all data on all building permits issued (the whole population) and for all types of constructions.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Building permit is a document issued by a competent administrative body on the basis of which it is permitted to start the construction of a new construction or a reconstruction of an existing construction. Data on issued building permits make it possible to define the change dynamics of the construction activity as well as to plan future works and the structure of investments both at state and local self-government levels. The data serve as a base for planning the production of construction materials and ready-made components as well as of other industrial products for fitting buildings and dwellings, for making decisions on the development of construction entrepreneurship and various housing-related services etc.
Detailed definitions of the indicators are described in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, as well as in Methodological Guidelines No. 68. Monthly Report on Building Permits Issued (Revision 2011), Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb, 2012.
The following data are collected on the monthly questionnaire:
Number of building permits issued for all types of constructions and works (new constructions, reconstructions, etc.)
Number of constructions by type of construction (according to CC)
Construction size of buildings (m2 and m3)
Number of buildings and square metres of useful floor area
Number of dwellings and useful floor area of dwellings
Number of dwellings by type of construction works and number of rooms.
Data are collected monthly and include all building permits issued during the reporting month.
3.5. Statistical unit
Reporting units are administration bodies competent for construction affairs in major cities, the City of Zagreb and counties as well as from the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, which issue building permits for constructions.
Observation units are all building permits issued for all types of constructions and works.
3.6. Statistical population
All building permits issued for all types of constructions and works; number of constructions; construction size of buildings (gross floor area and gross volume) and square metres of useful floor area of buildings; number of dwellings by type of construction works and number of rooms and useful floor area of dwellings.
Reporting units are administration bodies competent for construction affairs in major cities, the City of Zagreb and counties as well as from the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, which issue building permits for constructions.
There are 142 reporting units, which issued 11823 building permits in 2024 (10273 for buildings and 1550 for civil engineering works).
3.7. Reference area
The data refers to the whole territory of the Republic of Croatia - no regions are excluded. The regional coverage has not changed in any way.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data has been available since 2000. There are not time series available before 2000.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable (since indices are not compiled, there is no base year).
Number of construction, number of dwellings and square metres of useful floor area for buildings and dwellings
Data are collected monthly. Frequency of dissemination:
European level: quarterly
National level: monthly
Building permits indicator are assigned to the period when they are granted.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The legal basis for the Monthly Statistical Survey on Issued Building Permits (GRAĐ-44a form) are the following:
The Official Statistics Act (OG, No. 25/20 and 155/23)
The Annual Implementation Plans of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia
REGULATION (EU) 2019/2152 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics
The obligation on units to submit the report is based on the Article 45 of the Official Statistics Act (OG, No. 25/20 and 155/23). In case of the refusal to provide data, the provision of incomplete or incorrect data or the provision of data out of the time schedule, penalty provisions defined in Article 76 of the Act shall apply.
There is no data sharing to other international institutions.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
National legislation:
Terms and conditions, under which official statistics is produced, including confidentiality of individual responses, are governed by the Official Statistic Act (OG, No. 25/20 and 155/23). Individual data are strictly confidential and must not be published or reported.
Also, there is the Ordinance on the conditions and terms of access and use of confidential statistical data of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics for scientific purposes (OG, No. 5/23).
Confidentiality and reference to the Official Statistics Act are available on the data collection questionnaires.
European legislation:
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 11 March 2009, on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Confidential data are treated according to policy rules (see point 7.1).
Data are published only on the level at which they are not confidential.
8.1. Release calendar
A release schedule for the upcoming year, specifying dates, reference period and level of statistical publication is published each October in the Calendar of Statistical Data Issues and each December in the CBS Publishing Programme. This document is available in both Croatian and English.
Statistical publications are released simultaneously to all users at the same time (11:00) by the issuance of the press release: the first release - Building Permits Issued.
No users have prior access to the data.
There is no internal government pre-release access to the statistics for building permits.
Data on building permits (the number of dwellings, variable 150101, and square meters of useful floor area, variable 150102) are transmitted to Eurostat quarterly, beginning with the first quarter of 2000, including the required level of detail and timeliness, shortly after the national publication.
Data are collected monthly. Frequency of dissemination:
Results of processed monthly report data on building permits issued are published regularly in the following publications: the First Release, the Statistical Report entitled “Construction”, the Statistical Information.
In addition, a special edition of statistical reports entitled the “Building Permits Issued, 2000 – 2008” was published in 2010, which gave a review of annual data collected in monthly reports on building permits issued by counties. The released data are available at: CROATIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS - REPUBLIC OF CROATIA (dzs.hr).
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Data on building permits are available on the STS Database (the database of short-term statistics) at Reports (dzs.hr)
Data are presented as unadjusted absolute values, seasonally adjusted absolute values and working-day adjusted absolute values.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
The conditions under which certain users can have access to microdata are regulated by The Ordinance on the conditions and manner of access and use of confidential statistical data of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics for scientific purposes (OG, No. 5/23).
Data on building permits (the number of dwellings, variable 150101, and square meters of useful floor area, variable 150102) are transmitted to Eurostat quarterly, beginning with the first quarter of 2000, including the required level of detail and timeliness, shortly after the national publication.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
European business statistics compilers’ manual for short-term business statistics — 2021 edition.
Short methodological information on the national methodologies is available in monthly and yearly publications on construction. More detailed notes have been published as methodological guidelines “Monthly Report on Building Permits Issued” (Handbook, No 68/12 of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics).
The figures on buildings permits are published according to the main categories of the construction classification. Regional data by counties are also available.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Following the example of the European Statistical System, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics has developed a model of the Total Quality Management based on the Code of Practice of European Statistics. It is the model that is fully adjusted to the statistical purposes.
Quality checks and validation of data are done throughout the whole process. In order to ensure the quality of results, CBS develops, produces and disseminates data based on the same standards and harmonized methods. In this respect, CBS applies the criteria of relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility and clarity, comparability according to the Official Statistic Act (OG, No. 25/20 and 155/23).
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The quality of the data corresponds with requirements of relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality and comparability. All users’ needs are fulfilled because the statistical survey includes all issued building permits and for all types of constructions. Coverage is the whole Croatian territory. Data are produced at 5-digit level of CC (for buildings and civil engineering works). Data are based on reliable data. Publications of result are almost punctual. Before results are presented to users, additional quality control of statistical data is performed and data are compared with previous and corresponding period and checks with different source are made. All data have been available since 2000 and are comparable and free of any break in series.
Following the example of the European Statistical System, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics has developed a model of the Total Quality Management based on the Code of Practice of European Statistics. It is the model that is fully adjusted to the statistical purposes.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The users demand data such as short-term indicators of what is going to happen in the construction industry. The users’ needs are fulfilled. Users of statistical data on building permits issued can be found in all areas of economic and social life, beginning with business entities, media, economic analysts, researches and students, as well as bodies of state government, professional business organizations (Croatian Chamber of Economy), non-profit organisations (Croatian Employers' Association), financial institutions (Croatian National Bank, Raiffeisen bank, etc.), Eurostat and other international institutions, which use data series on number and types of constructions for which building permits were issued, number and floor area of buildings and dwellings, dwellings according to the number of rooms.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
Data at 5-digit level are produced from Q1 2000 and are consistent with the requirements of Regulation No 2019/2152 and Regulation No 2020/1197 as well as with short-term methodological manual.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
As there is used census survey as data collection method it can be stated that there is neither statistical error nor bias.
Results in the first release are treated as final results with t+46.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable (in order to collect data on all building permits (whole population) of different types of construction according to CC, CBS uses census survey as a data collection method (not sampling)).
13.3. Non-sampling error
Response rate is 99.4%. Apart from 1 reporting unit, all data are available according to deadlines. For late or missing data, units are contacted by phone or mail and asked to provide the missing data. Estimates were not done for the unit that did not respond.
Revoked building permits are not taken into account because there are no reliable sources for this kind of data.
14.1. Timeliness
Indicators are transmitted to Eurostat 90 days after the end of the reference period. For national purposes, data are disseminated 46 days after the end of the reference month.
Electronic questionnaires are sent every month to the reporting units. The deadline for replies is the 20th day in a month at the latest, for the previous month. The data collection is completed approximately 10 days after the deadline for replies.
Reporting units then fill in the GRAĐ-44a forms on the basis of their records on building permits issued.
There is no time lag between the delivery dates announced in the calendar and the time the target data are actually delivered.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
There are no problems with data comparability. The same statistical concepts and classifications are applied in the entire national territory. The Croatian Classification of Types of Construction (NKVG) is harmonised with the Classification of Types of Construction (CC). In order to meet STS data requirements, data presented according to CC Classification is converted according to CPA ver. 2.1 - Statistical Classification of Products by Activity. The Croatian Construction Statistics Unit ensured that the national survey on building permits issued provides data that are harmonized with the EU recommendations, definitions and classifications. The data are of the same quality as those provided by other EU Member States. All variables are defined in accordance with the recommendations mandatory for all EU Member States:
REGULATION (EU) 2019/2152 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics and in the COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics
15.2. Comparability - over time
All data have been available since 2000; they are comparable and free of any breaks in series.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Comparisons are made on “ad hoc” basis and are not published. Results of comparison of building permits issued is good leader indicator for future construction activity. So, if we compare data of dwellings for which building permits is issued and completed dwellings (twenty-two year period), we can conclude that there is a strong correlation between these two variables. Multiple R for this period is 0,93.
There is no confrontation with other data sets.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Data are internal coherent. Variables 150101 and 150102 are coherent for common types of buildings.
Burden of respondents: 1003 hours annually for all reporting units.
Total costs of NSI: 8176 hours annually
17.1. Data revision - policy
The users of statistical data are informed about revisions on the CBS website.
Correction of errors, major changes in the classifications, methodology is possible.
Routine revisions are not carried out since all monthly data are available according to deadlines.
Notice about minor changes are announced in the First release at the time the change is introduced.
The same revision policy is applied to data released nationally and transmitted to Eurostat.
The data publishing revision policy in the Croatian Bureau of Statistics includes the following:
Updating of the Calendar of Statistical Data Issues
Publishing of corrigenda of the published data
1) Updating of the Calendar of Statistical Data Issues
The data publishing revision policy of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, which is carried out according to the defined deadlines, is carried out by updating the Calendar of Statistical Data Issues. According to the Official Statistics Act, changes in the publishing deadlines for publications/data are announced in advance. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics is obliged to announce each change in the publishing deadlines (the Calendar update) at least three days prior to the date originally announced in the Calendar at the web site of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.
The update of the publishing deadlines for data or publications (the update of the Calendar) is announced without delay on the Croatian Bureau of Statistics’ website by updating the date in the Calendar and putting the notice beside the Calendar, which says: updated: (the accurate new date).
Therefore, the Calendar that contains the original publishing deadline for a particular publication/statistical information is replaced with the new Calendar which includes the updated publishing deadline. The original Calendar is kept in the Publishing Department which registers every change in publishing deadlines for publications in the Calendar Update Base.
2) Publishing of the corrigenda of the published data
In cases when an error is observed in the published data, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics announces the correction as soon as possible and as simple as possible in order to help the users to clearly see what was changed in comparison to the originally published data. The correction is carried out by marking the incorrect data with an asterisk and creating the corrigendum.
There is an internal vintage database where data on building permits issued are stocked. But a vintage database with all published data on building permits issued since 2000, information on tracking is not available.
No special revision calendar exists.
Benchmarking (confrontation) with other statistics is not carried out.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data on building permits issued are published as final and are not subject to any revisions. For this reason, numeric information (Mean Absolute Revision – MAR and Mean Revision – MR), on size of typical revision and regular sources of revisions are not applicable.
In 2024, working-day adjusted absolute values were identical to unadjusted absolute values (which are not subject to any revisions), so working-day adjusted MAR and MR are also not applicable.
Seasonally adjusted time series are revised with each new observation (there is an internal vintage database where data on seasonally adjusted data are stocked, but a vintage database with all previously published seasonally adjusted data is not available).
No special revision calendar for this domain exists.
Major changes in the methodology, are announced in the First release at the time the change is introduced.
If error occurs, corrected data are published in the next issue of First release. Data changed in relation to the first released are disseminated with a comment (changes in components and aggregates are presented at the same time).
There are no routine revisions aiming at achieving temporal consistency.
The general practice is that all changes in the methodology are explained when data based on the new methodology are published for the first time. Information on methodological changes is provided in the Note on Methodology, which is a part of all related paper or electronic publications.
Domain (indicator) specific characteristics of revisions are not applicable.
18.1. Source data
The coverage is full, that is, statistical survey includes all issued building permits. A comprehensive survey is used as a method of data collection in order to collect all data on all building permits issued (the whole population) and for all types of constructions. The Address Book of Reporting Units is a directory of all cities and municipalities in the Republic of Croatia for areas for which construction bodies are authorised to issue documents by which building works are approved.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data are collected monthly.
18.3. Data collection
Electronic questionnaire is used to gather data from reporting units (GRAĐ-44a form).
Actions taken to speed up or increase the rate of response: re-contacts by mail (written remainders), telephone contacts.
18.4. Data validation
Treatment on micro-data level
Quality checks of data are done by manual revision of questionnaires and automated error-checking procedures.
Collected data are first checked and verified by experts from the Construction Statistics Unit and during the process of data entering. Quality checking is carried out by using a set of strict manual and electronic logical/calculation controls. Respondents’, coding and data entry errors and inconsistencies are detected and corrected using manual and electronic logical/calculation quality control while editing. Reports that fail to meet the quality standards are subject to verification and are corrected as required. There are organised correction procedures by priority: severe errors are generally corrected manually and more effort is spent on these, while minor errors require less attention and are mostly corrected automatically by computer.
Treatment on macro-data level
The macro data tabled are verified by staff in construction unit. Data from the actual reporting period is compared with the previous and the corresponding reporting period of the previous year. If inconsistencies are detected the data must be verified at micro level again by using raw data of the questionnaire and possibly changed.
Apart from previously mentioned checks done for the purpose of national statistics, neither additional checks are done nor are additional tools used before data are transmitted to Eurostat.
18.5. Data compilation
The coverage is full, that is, statistical survey includes all issued building permits. A comprehensive survey is used as a method of data collection in order to collect all data on all building permits issued (the whole population) and for all types of constructions.
Response rate is 99.4%. Apart from 1 reporting unit, all data are available according to deadlines. For late or missing data, units are contacted by phone or mail and asked to provide the missing data. Estimates were not done for the unit that did not respond.
18.6. Adjustment
Data on building permits (number of dwellings, square meters of useful floor area) are compiled as unadjusted, WDA and SA absolute values.
Seasonal and working-day adjustment has been done by applying the programme interface JDemetra+ (version 2.2.2) by using the X13 ARIMA method on quarterly series (absolute values), which starts with Q1-2000.
The model/filter selection - manual.
Parameters re-estimation - each quarter. Annual revision of models, filters, calendar regressors for ref. period q4.
Seasonally adjusted time series are revised with every new observation.
Building permits issued. A building permit is an authorisation to start work on a building project. The objective of the building permits indicator is to show the future development of construction activity. Building permit is a document issued by a competent administrative body.
Data are important for: statistical monitoring of short-term changes in the construction activity (number of dwellings, useful floor area), review of interventions into living space, business decision-making in construction and related activities, international comparisons. Data are collected by using the reporting method on the Monthly Report on Building Permits issued (GRAĐ-44a form).
24 April 2025
Building permit is a document issued by a competent administrative body on the basis of which it is permitted to start the construction of a new construction or a reconstruction of an existing construction. Data on issued building permits make it possible to define the change dynamics of the construction activity as well as to plan future works and the structure of investments both at state and local self-government levels. The data serve as a base for planning the production of construction materials and ready-made components as well as of other industrial products for fitting buildings and dwellings, for making decisions on the development of construction entrepreneurship and various housing-related services etc.
Detailed definitions of the indicators are described in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, as well as in Methodological Guidelines No. 68. Monthly Report on Building Permits Issued (Revision 2011), Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb, 2012.
The following data are collected on the monthly questionnaire:
Number of building permits issued for all types of constructions and works (new constructions, reconstructions, etc.)
Number of constructions by type of construction (according to CC)
Construction size of buildings (m2 and m3)
Number of buildings and square metres of useful floor area
Number of dwellings and useful floor area of dwellings
Number of dwellings by type of construction works and number of rooms.
Data are collected monthly and include all building permits issued during the reporting month.
Reporting units are administration bodies competent for construction affairs in major cities, the City of Zagreb and counties as well as from the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, which issue building permits for constructions.
Observation units are all building permits issued for all types of constructions and works.
All building permits issued for all types of constructions and works; number of constructions; construction size of buildings (gross floor area and gross volume) and square metres of useful floor area of buildings; number of dwellings by type of construction works and number of rooms and useful floor area of dwellings.
Reporting units are administration bodies competent for construction affairs in major cities, the City of Zagreb and counties as well as from the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, which issue building permits for constructions.
There are 142 reporting units, which issued 11823 building permits in 2024 (10273 for buildings and 1550 for civil engineering works).
The data refers to the whole territory of the Republic of Croatia - no regions are excluded. The regional coverage has not changed in any way.
Data are collected monthly. Frequency of dissemination:
European level: quarterly
National level: monthly
Building permits indicator are assigned to the period when they are granted.
As there is used census survey as data collection method it can be stated that there is neither statistical error nor bias.
Results in the first release are treated as final results with t+46.
Number of construction, number of dwellings and square metres of useful floor area for buildings and dwellings
The coverage is full, that is, statistical survey includes all issued building permits. A comprehensive survey is used as a method of data collection in order to collect all data on all building permits issued (the whole population) and for all types of constructions.
Response rate is 99.4%. Apart from 1 reporting unit, all data are available according to deadlines. For late or missing data, units are contacted by phone or mail and asked to provide the missing data. Estimates were not done for the unit that did not respond.
The coverage is full, that is, statistical survey includes all issued building permits. A comprehensive survey is used as a method of data collection in order to collect all data on all building permits issued (the whole population) and for all types of constructions. The Address Book of Reporting Units is a directory of all cities and municipalities in the Republic of Croatia for areas for which construction bodies are authorised to issue documents by which building works are approved.
Data are collected monthly. Frequency of dissemination:
European level: quarterly
National level: monthly
Indicators are transmitted to Eurostat 90 days after the end of the reference period. For national purposes, data are disseminated 46 days after the end of the reference month.
Electronic questionnaires are sent every month to the reporting units. The deadline for replies is the 20th day in a month at the latest, for the previous month. The data collection is completed approximately 10 days after the deadline for replies.
Reporting units then fill in the GRAĐ-44a forms on the basis of their records on building permits issued.
There are no problems with data comparability. The same statistical concepts and classifications are applied in the entire national territory. The Croatian Classification of Types of Construction (NKVG) is harmonised with the Classification of Types of Construction (CC). In order to meet STS data requirements, data presented according to CC Classification is converted according to CPA ver. 2.1 - Statistical Classification of Products by Activity. The Croatian Construction Statistics Unit ensured that the national survey on building permits issued provides data that are harmonized with the EU recommendations, definitions and classifications. The data are of the same quality as those provided by other EU Member States. All variables are defined in accordance with the recommendations mandatory for all EU Member States:
REGULATION (EU) 2019/2152 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics and in the COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics
All data have been available since 2000; they are comparable and free of any breaks in series.
