Despite the increasing popularity of the Mediterranean diet (MP) throughout the world, adherence to this dietary model is decreasing due to multifactorial influences - changes in lifestyles, globalization of food, economic and socio-cultural factors. These changes represent a serious threat to the preservation and transmission of the heritage of MP to current and future generations. Today's challenge is to reverse such trends. The aim of this research was to use the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) questionnaire to assess the compliance of the eating habits of Croatian students with the MP based on differences in sociodemographic data, gender and educational direction of the respondents. The research was conducted via an online Google Forms questionnaire from August 2021 to August 2022 on 190 respondents, of which 75 were men and 115 were women. A statistically significant difference was found in the body mass index (BMI) of the subjects with regard to gender (p=0.148) and the field of education (p=0.033). Half of the respondents are up to 22 ± 4 years old, weigh up to 69 ± 25 kg and are 172.5 ± 15.25 cm tall. She is inactive, but with an adequate body mass (BMI is 22.86±4.615 kg/m2) and a moderate MEDAS score of 6 ± 3 points. The majority of students (53.7%) have moderate MEDAS, while 38.9% of respondents have low MEDAS. Adequate body weight is also the highest percentage of 68.4% of respondents, while 27.4% of obese students are. 72.6% of students studying in coastal counties and 27.4% of students studying in continental counties participated in the survey. The largest number of respondents come from Zadar County (28.4%), from Split-Dalmatia County (21.1%), Šibenik-Knin County (13.2%) and from the city of Zagreb (10.5%). Respondents from coastal counties had a significantly higher score on the MEDAS test for typically Mediterranean foods: olive oil (70.3% vs. 46.2%), fish (22.5% vs. 2.5%). Students from continental counties have a significantly lower MEDAS score (50%). However, the BMI of students coming from coastal counties does not differ significantly from those from the continent. Students who live in the same city where they study eat more vegetables (65.4%), chicken (61.7%), but also consume more wine (21.5%) and eat more sweets (55.1%) than students who do not live in the city of study. While half of students in both groups have MEDAS up to 6 points, significantly fewer students who do not study in their place of residence have low MEDAS (31.8% vs. 48.2%). High MEDAS has 12.1% of students who do not have the same residence and place of study, while students who study and live in the same place have a significantly lower MEDAS score. With regard to the field of education, students from studies that include knowledge about the functioning of the body, proper nutrition and the benefits of physical activity (nursing, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, kinesiology, nutrition) statistically consumed more chicken, fish and fruit than students from other study, but the difference is not statistically significant. These students also have a slightly higher BMI (median is 23.38 with an IQR of 4.25) than students from other studies (median is 22.39 with an IQR of 4.45). A statistically significant difference was established with regard to gender, specifically men for components of the MEDAS questionnaire such as the consumption of olive oil, vegetables, wine, fish, sauces and sweets, which men consume more than women. It can be concluded that men and women have different dietary habits regarding MP compliance.