Of the 76 percent of the population who would vote should there be a referendum on Croatia’s entrance into the European Union, 53 percent would support accession.

The survey by marketing research company Ipsos Puls conducted for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs found that 40 percent would vote against Croatia’s accession to the European Union, while seven percent did not know how they would vote.

More men than women support Croatia becoming an EU member (46 to 40 percent), and, in terms of age, the greatest support is registered among those 65 and older (46 percent).

Highly-educated people are also more likely to be for EU accession as opposed to those with lower levels of education (49 percent of the highly educated, 46 percent of those with medium levels of education and 35 percent with primary school education.)

That 76 percent of the population would vote demonstrates growing interest in having a referendum. Only 65 percent of the population were interested last June, 71 percent in September and 73 percent in December, the Croatian business portal Business has reported.

In terms of positive expectations that people have about the European Union, the most important are mobility, more jobs, open markets, judicial reforms, less corruption, progress and economic stability, access to EU funds and more order.

People cited lower standards of living, loss of political sovereignty, a negative impact on agriculture, the sale of Croatian properties, loss of national identity, higher imports and more competition as negative aspects of EU accession.

Ipsos Puls polled 1,000 people.