Demografske promjene na hrvatskim otocima na početku 21. stoljeća
Demographic Changes on Croatian Islands at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Summary/Abstract: Depopulation was the main feature of the demographic development of Croatian islands during a large part of the 20th century. It started in 1921 and ended in the last decade of the century according to the official statistical indicators. It was caused by a long-term emigration from the islands, arising both from economic (agrarian over¬population, land industrialization, de-agrarisation, the crises of certain agricultural activities, monoculture on some of the islands, etc.) and political reasons (political emigration, Italian optants). Depopulation due to emigration was crucial in creating total depopulation up to the 1960s, and after that period it was joined by natural depopulation as well, leading many island communities to a state of extreme depo¬pulation – extinction. But since the 1991 Census, the general population change on Croatian islands has got a positive sign. However, the conclusion that population revitalization occurred on Croatian islands was soon denied by a series of facts. As the law, popularly called “the law on vacation homes”, has been applied since 1993, a large number of second homes owners opted for this location as the predominant place of residence, although they do not reside there for the most part of the year, thus creating a significant contingent of “fictitious population”. Another theory whi¬ch denies that our islands are experiencing demographic upswing and revitalization rests on the fact that far and away the highest rates of population growth have been recorded on the bridged islands. We believe that these islands (also characterized by the highest proportion of second homes in the total number of objects) do not share the fate of islandness (insularity) as the other “real islands” do, owing to their solid connection to the mainland so that, in fact, they are no longer isolated. If we exclude the population trends of this group of islands from the total population change of the entire archipelago, we can affirm that even if “fictitious population” is accepted as a statistical reality, the population of our islands stagnated in the previous period.

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