DEMOGRAFSKA OBILJEŽJA SJEVEROZAPADNE HRVATSKE
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF NORTHWESTERN CROATIA

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes the changes of the basic characteristics of the population of North-Western Croatia. Population of North-Western Croatia has increased by 8.5% between 1900 and 2011 and the maximum number of inhabitants was recorded in 1953. Since the latter year, the number of inhabitants of this area has been steadily decreasing, and the latest census in 2011 showed that the population decrease in comparison with 1953 was 11.9%. Considering the census dynamics of the number of inhabitants per county in three characteristic periods (1900-2011, 1948-2011 and 2001-2011), the significant bipolarity was noticed. Krapina-Zagorje County and Koprivnica-Križevci County have a population decline, while the counties of Međimurje and Varaždin recorded a significant population increase in the first two periods and the population decline in the period 2001-2011. The natural population dynamics was researched for the period 1996 – 2015. In those twenty years North-Western Croatia has lost 35 thousand inhabitants by natural population drop (more deaths than births), while the population drop caused by emigration can not be determined due to changes in the methodology of censuses after 1991. Indicators of the age structure of North-Western Croatia are also extremely unfavourable. The 2011 census showed that 21.6% of the population was aged between 0 and 19 years and 22.8% of the population was aged 60 years and over. Although between 1981 and 2011 the educational structure of the North-Western Croatia population was improved considerably, its characteristics are still below the Croatian average. The latest population census from 2011 showed that there was only 10.6% of the highly educated population aged 15 years and more.

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