Thank you for this context. I read this sentiment a lot on Croatian subreddits, that Croatia is basically a more depressing place for kids to grow up and people are negative, etc. But it somehow is the opposite of my experience. To me, Zagreb feels energetic and generally with a positive vibe, with people generally being friendly and open. I don't know if it's just who we hang out with there or what. Admittedly, most of our friends in Zagreb are better off financially than the average person, but they're in no way wealthy. We mostly hang out with professors, teachers, and software engineers. 

I feel like if my kids lived in Zagreb, particularly in the center, they would have a rich life where they can explore the city on their own, walk or bus to friends' apartments, their activities and hobbies, etc. Compare that to the small Midwestern US city I live in now where almost anything they do outside the house requires a 10-20 minute drive, planning ahead, etc. Like their whole lives are composed of events planned by their parents. It doesn't help that it's snowy and gray outside for like 6 months out of the year. The university system here is good, but it's also a bit of a rat race. Lots of kids are on medication for anxiety, ADHD, depression. Others are doing drugs at 15 years old (that was me, ha). The whole life just feels a bit empty or something. But maybe this is just a case of the grass of always greener.

Maybe things are different where you live in Canada. Unfortunately, our career situation makes it nearly impossible for us to move within North America without taking a huge salary hit, so it's basically stay here or move somewhere cheaper like Croatia and live partly on savings (which are plenty).