Izvorni znanstveni članak
The Ageing of the Rural Population (Causes and effects)
Ruža Petrović
Sažetak
The process of the ageing of Yugoslavia’s population (which can be seen in
the increasing proportion of adults and old people and the decreasing proportion
of children and young people) began only some twenty years ago. Thus in European
relations Yugoslavia’s population may still be regarded as a young one. At
present one out of fifty inhabitants in Yugoslavia is over 50 years old. However,
in rural districts one out of four inhabitants belongs to this age group because
the rural population is generally older than the urban one. Thus it may be concluded
that there are now comparatively fewer adults and more children and old
people in the villages than in towns.
One of the essential characteristics of the demographic development of the
Jugoslav population is its unevenness. There are discrepancies even within the
individual demographic trends and relations (the lowest general death rate and
the highest infant mortality in Europe). There are also discrepancies in demographic
and social trends (inadequate capacity of the system of elementary, secondary
and vocational schools, of farm buildings and housing facilities, lack of
the basic conditions for the socialization of the individual, for his independent
existence, and for starting a family). A special form of the uneven demographic
development are regional discrepancies.
As regards the age structure of the rural population one can distinguish two
types of population. The progressive type of age structure is marked by decreasing
numbers of persons of a certain generation and its increasing age. This type of
rural population can be found in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and,
to some extent, in Montenegro. The rural population in other parts of the country
is of the stationary type of age structure with smaller differences as regards the
number of members of one generation.
The following are the basic factors of the changes in age structure: births,
ageing and death, and migration. The current age structure of the population has
the following demographic consequences: a high death rate (because of the large
proportion of old people and the unequal position of the peasants in the country’s
health insurance and social welfare systems), a low birth rate (baceuse of the low
proportion of the reproductive contingents and the unequal social position of the
peasants), and a decreasing number of marriages (because of the diminishing
number of young people and their growing tendency to give up farming and leave
the villages).
What the next ten years will bring, when every inhabitant is ten years older,
does not depend so much on demographic as on social trends. The age structure,
which is at present stationary, may soon become one of the regressive type when
the number of population, even without migration, may begin to decrease.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
119635
URI
Datum izdavanja:
8.12.1972.
Posjeta: 1.579 *