Although majority of educational provision in Croatia is fully organized and funded by public authorities, there is certain number of private educational institutions at all levels of the education. All of the private educational institutions have to be accredited by the Ministry of science, education and sports following the same procedure as the equivalent public institutions.

On the pre-primary level, the most common owners of private ECEC institutions are private individuals and NGOs. Also, several larger companies are providing their own ECEC facilities for their employees. According to the official annual statistical gazzette issued by the national bureau of statistics (CROSTAT), in 2011/12 out of about 127.000 children included in ECEC programs, about 19.000 of them (~7%) are in private institutions.

On the level of elementary schools (single structure primary and lower secondary level) there are just 10 private schools out of some 800 in total. Among these are schools providing Montessori, Waldorf and international programs. According to the official annual statistical gazzette issued by the national bureau of statistics (CROSTAT), in 2011/12 out of 350.000 elementary school students, less that 1.000 of them (<0,3%) attend private schools.

In higher education sector there is increasing number of private institutions, mostly offering professional first-cycle (bachelor) and short-cycle programs.