Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.22586/ss.23.1.11
Direct demographic losses of the Vukovar-Srijem county in the Homeland War
Dražen Živić
Abstract
The demographic, social and economic development of the Vukovar-Srijem county during and after the Homeland War occurred under the impact of the wartime demographic losses as well as the longterm demographic, social and economic consequences of the war and the long-lasting occupation of two thirds of the county’s territory. On the basis of available data, in this work the direct demographic losses of the Vukovar-Srijem county and their assessed impact on the demographic changes in the county in the „wartime” intercensal period (1991-2001) have been determined and described. Quantitative processing of the available digital database/application of the Croatian Memorial Documentation Centre of the Homeland War in Zagreb has determined that in the Homeland War, 3,636 pre-war inhabitants of Vukovar-Srijem county were either killed or went missing, which in comparison to the pre-war population figures (census 1991) results in an aproximate general wartime mortality rate of 15.72 per mille. Furthermore, through a numerical analysis the spacial, temporal and structural differentiation/selectivness of actual demographic losses in relation to certain parameters such as gender, age, nationality, pre-war residence of victims as well as to their places of death have been determined. The direct demographic losses established are a significant determinant of demographic changes in postwar Vukovar-Srijem county, particularly in the context of the strenghtening of the overall and natural depopulation as well as the accelaration of population aging as shown in the postwar censuses (2001, 2011, 2021).
Keywords
Homeland War (Croatian War of Independence); Vukovar-Srijem county; direct demographic losses; depopulation
Hrčak ID:
311063
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2023.
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