Studying Ethnic Endogamy in Croatia with a Suitable Indicator of Homophily

Abstract

In this paper, we study the patterns of ethnic endogamy in Croatia in relation to six ethnic groups between 1970 and 2015. We find that, over the 45-year period analyzed, the segmentation of the Croatian marriage market was weaker between Czechs and non-Czechs, Hungarians and non-Hungarians, Italians and non-Italians, and Slovaks and non-Slovaks than between Serbs and non-Serbs or Croats and non-Croats. This finding is substantiated by survey evidence revealing similar patterns on relative social distances between different ethnic groups in Croatia and Serbia. From a methodological perspective, we show that a plausible ranking of the degree of segmentation of the Croatian marriage market along ethnic lines can be obtained only when marital sorting is characterized by a carefully selected indicator. While a recently reinvented indicator captures sensible patterns of ethnic endogamy, the commonly applied odds-ratio fails to produce results consistent with survey evidence. AI generated video summary of the paper: https://idil.li/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/A_Tale_of_Two_Numbers2.mp4