Review article
Current Tendencies in the Development of Croatian Population
Dražen Živić
; Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar
Abstract
At the transition of the century the Croatian population was found in a pretty unflattering position, with long-term unfavourable demographic tendencies, processes and structures that have become the dominant limiting factor of the stable and prosperous social and cultural development of the country. This is the consequence of the cause-effect determination, as well as of the imbued “inner” and “outer” determining characteristics of demographic development, many of which have had, or still have some destabilizing impact on the development of the population in Croatia. There is no doubt that a stable, natural and positive development of population is one of the basic social, or even national values in Croatia, for it represents – due to its numerous special qualities and long-term effects - one of the rare values which in their fullness and universality present the true existentialistic character of the Croatian state. Nowadays the development of the Croatian population is characterised by the processes of total and natural depopulation and population ageing, those being long-term and global demographic processes, or partial depopulation processes – such as reproductive and generation depopulation. The above mentioned processes go together with an uneven population density, or the spatial polarisation of the population, which is a regional expression of the disturbed demographic circumstances in Croatia. An urgent, thoroughly planned and actively implemented concept of population and family policy is required in Croatia, because of the long-term character of demographic changes, many unfavourable tendencies in the development of the population and their regression effect on social and economic growth of the country.
Keywords
Croatia; population; depopulation; population ageing; spatial population polarisation
Hrčak ID:
40180
URI
Publication date:
30.9.2003.
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