The topic of this thesis is the analysis of the impact of natural resources on the economic development of countries. Natural resources, such as oil, gas, minerals, forests, and water, play a crucial role in shaping the economic policies and development strategies of many states. The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the presence and exploitation of natural resources affect economic growth, the well-being of the population, and long-term sustainable development. Croatia is a small country and a small economy, but it can be said that it is rich in natural resources such as the coast, wind and sun. The greatest interest is related to the Adriatic Sea, the coast and the islands, which represent Croatia's comparative advantage. However, uncontrolled and unsustainable exploitation of this resource can cause numerous problems of balanced economic development, and other social anomalies such as excessive emigration of the younger population. The task of this paper is to answer the question of whether Croatia has fallen into a trap, which in theory is called the Dutch disease. It is possible to conclude, by analyzing numerous indicators, but in a different way, primarily due to the effects of the aging of the population (but also the reduction of the total number of younger population), the Dutch disease affected the Croatian economy, and tourism as an economic activity, under the phenomenon of resource curse, leads to weakening of other, primarily production activities. In the example of Croatia, this influx of funds from tourism, if it is not "fairly" distributed in society, leads to similar consequences as in the example of the Netherlands, a decline in production activities, a decline in real GDP, and ultimately a decline in citizens' standards and emigration younger population.