IZVORI PODATAKA O UNUTRAŠNJIM MIGRACIJAMA U SRBIJI SA ASPEKTA PROSTORNOG PLANIRANJA
DATA SOURCES ON INTERNAL MIGRATION IN SERBIA FROM THE ASPECT OF SPATIAL PLANNING

Summary/Abstract: Internal migration is of great importance from a spatial planning perspective, as it has a direct impact on the spatial distribution of the population and its qualitative characteristics. In addition, they are also an important indicator of the relationships in urban systems and an indicator of the ability of a given area to meet the needs of its population. Based on the available official data sources, three methodological solutions were applied in the study: the vital statistics method, the momentary retrospective method and the analysis of data on changes of residence. The results of the comparative analysis of net migration between 2002 and 2011, covering 28 cities and 117 municipalities, provided a general insight into the characteristics, i.e. the advantages and disadvantages of the available data sources in terms of content, quality, availability, etc., as well as possible variations in the results. The classification of cities and municipalities according to positive and negative values of net migration shows that almost all possible combinations of positive and negative values are present. In 74% of cases, the cities and municipalities had exclusively positive or exclusively negative values, while 26% of the cities and municipalities had both positive and negative values. The differences between the values of net migration vary considerably, from a few dozen or hundreds of inhabitants to a few dozen thousand inhabitants. The results show that the vital statistics method provides a more accurate overview of the overall migration balance than the other two methodological solutions used. On the other hand, it does not provide information on the positive and negative components of migration, nor on the characteristics of the migrant population. In terms of spatial research, the use of census data allows the most complex research compared to the other solutions, which includes analysing the spatial distribution of origin and destination of migration at the level of settlements, which is very important for the study of urban systems. The main limitations of the retrospective method are the lower accuracy of migration values (they differ the most from the other two values) and the limited availability of data (requiring special processing of microdata). Data on changes of residence can be used to monitor both components of internal migration. The main advantage of this solution is the continuous method of data collection, while the lower coverage of data (due to the practise of not reporting changes or reporting them too late) and the availability of data only at the level of municipalities is a significant limitation. The research findings have shown that each data source has advantages and limitations that often play an important role in selecting an appropriate source in line with the research objectives. It is important to consider the shortcomings so that they do not lead to incorrect conclusions when interpreting the results. The population census proved to be the most comprehensive source of data on internal migration in Serbia in terms of spatial research. However, since the limitations of this method in terms of deviations from the actual migration volume cannot be neglected, it is recommended to combine it with the vital statistics method in order to obtain more accurate results.

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