Population: 'alarming' decline in Balkans and Eastern Europe
Phenomenon particularly significant in the Balkans
29 June, 15:46"Europe today remains divided by long-term population trends" and this "division mostly follows the past geopolitical cleavage between Europe's East and West," the report states. The West, South, and North of Europe, in particular the richest regions and Ireland, Switzerland, Norway and Spain,, are witnessing a rising population sizes, to be explained as "combination of minor natural population increases and higher levels of immigration than emigration." At the same time, "almost all countries in Central, South-Eastern, and Eastern Europe saw substantial population declines, due to a combined effect of natural population decrease and emigration." According to data quoted in the report, the Balkans are one of the region most affected by a negative population change, with a rate "unprecedented in times of peace," the study noted.
In Bosnia, the population declined by 22% between 1990 and 2017, in Bulgaria by 19%, in Romania by 15%, in Croatia -13%, in Serbia -8%. A significant drop of population was registered also in Moldova (-19%), in Latvia (-27%) and Lithuania (-23%), less significant in Hungary (-6%), while the Czech Republic (+2%), Slovakia and Slovenia (+3%) registered a slight increase in their population in the past decades. (ANSA).