As many as 52.8% of Croatian citizens think it is more important to be a member of an influential political party than educated to succeed in life in Croatia, according to the findings of a survey commissioned by RTL television, Jutarnji List daily said on Thursday.

The survey covered 1,054 respondents and shows that 56% of men and 49.8% of women think party membership is more important than an academic degree.

This belief is more widespread among older citizens than youth and among those who finished primary or secondary school.

Only 47.5% of respondents think hard work is the path to success and this opinion is equally shared by men and women. Hard work as a factor of success is least valued by respondents with secondary school education.

Most worrying is that the most productive part of the population, those aged 30 to 50, make up the smallest number of those who believe hard work will bring them success.

As many as 58.7% of respondents think having connections is essential for a good job, and the majority are aged 40 to 60 and with primary or secondary school education.

The residents of Istria and the Littoral are happiest with their jobs, as much as 60.8%, followed by those in northern Croatia (58.8%), while the residents of Dalmatia are the least happy (50.2%).

Forty-six percent of respondents are unhappy or indifferent about their job, but 57.2% are not looking for another one. Also, among those employed, 3.4% (about 20,000) are looking for a job abroad, mainly people from the private sector.

Only 59.1% of those employed feel their formal education is important for their job and one in three of those with an academic decree don't work in their field.

Only 50% of those employed feel higher education is linked to faster career advancement, while the other half feel it depends on factors such as party membership or connections.