Sociology and Space, No. 119-120, 1993.
Original scientific paper
Some indicators of the uneven spatial distribution of the agricultural population in Croatia
Maja Štambuk
Abstract
The author analyzes the regional
distribution of some features of Croatian
agriculture, its human and work
possibilities.
There is most (relatively) agricultural
population in the Bjelovar region (38.5%),
whereas it has almost vanished from the
Kvamer-Velebit littoral (1.85). It is scarce
in Istria (6.5%), in Gorski kotar (4.6%),
on the Dalmatian coast and the islands
(5.0%).
This segment of the population is rapidly
ageing: only 6.6% are under the age of
ten, whereas there are 15.3% people
under ten in the non-agricultural
population. The sex composition is also
shifted: there is a pronounced shortage of
men (only 43.8%).
Of the total agricultural population of
Croatia, 62.1% people are active. The
others are maintained. There are
significant regional differences.
To analyze the »vitality« of Croatian
agriculture we singled out an active
agricultural contingent aged between 15
and 59. The level of education in the vital
agricultural population is exceedingly
unfavourable. 80% of them have no
school at all or did not complette their
primary education.
Statistical data available was used to
estimate the vitality of agriculture.
Everyone younger than 15 and older than
59 was excluded. This reduced the total
active agricultural contingent in Croatia
by almost 30%.
Available cultivable areas are the second
part of the »index of vitality«.
The number of hectares per »vital«
farmer shows the locality and nature of
Croatia’s agricultural potentials. This
certainly needs additional analyses, but
even on this level the facts are very
indicative: the parts of Croatia where the
agricultural population is sparse have
large cultivable areas per one »vital«
farmer — up to 32.1 ha in Gorski kotar
or 18.1 ha in Istria.
There is least cultivable land per »vital«
farmer in the Hrvatsko Zagorje (3.3 ha)
and in the Varaždin region (3.3 ha). The
agriculturally overpopulated Bjelovar
region has 4.3 ha per farmer, the Zagreb
urban region 4.8 ha, and the other
regions are close to the national average
(5.6 ha).
This analysis of agricultural »vitality«
points to great imbalance in the
distribution of fanners and land in
Croatia. This is a more recent social and
economic phenomenon and it must be
solved on that level.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
119770
URI
Publication date:
11.6.1993.
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