Serbia: 400.000 fewer inhabitants in the last nine years

During the last nine years, the number of inhabitants in Serbia has decreased by 433.232 - only on the basis of negative natural growth, according to the statement on the population estimates of the Republic Institute of Statistics.

These estimates are based on the results of the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in 2022 and the results of the annual statistics of natural movements and internal migrations of the population.

According to the latest census results collected last year, the number of inhabitants in Serbia is 6.647.003. In terms of gender representation, 51,4 percent are women (3.423.627), while 48,6 percent are men (3.240).

In the period 2002-2022. the number of inhabitants of the Republic of Serbia is continuously decreasing. At the regional level, only the Belgrade region recorded an increase in the number of inhabitants until 2020, and that trend would change from 2021, while in the other regions there was a population decrease throughout the observed period.

The process of demographic aging of the population is manifested by the low participation of young people and the high and continuously growing share of the elderly in the total population. The share of people aged 65 and over is 22 percent, and those under 15 years old are 14 percent.

Observed at the level of the district, the largest share of people aged 65 and over (30,3 percent) and the lowest share of the population under 15 years of age (11,2 percent) were recorded in the Zaječar District.

Let us remind you that according to the 2011 census, there were 7.186.862 inhabitants in Serbia, that is, 539.859 more than according to the census conducted last year.

Every year we lose a town the size of Valjevo

"Vreme" dealt with the causes of population decline in the text "Demographic collapse of Serbia and the entire Balkans".

The reason for the decrease in the number of inhabitants is related to five factors - the departure of young people, postponement of childbearing, reproductive health, economic and psychological reasons.

According to data from the United Nations Development Program, around 51.000 people leave Serbia every year. According to these estimates, the country will lose a city the size of Valjevo.

Negative natural growth is characteristic of all countries of the region and the whole of Eastern Europe. Experts forecast that the Balkan region is particularly threatened and is facing it demografski slom. Now, as they say, it's too late.

AE/FoNet

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