СТАРОСНА СТРУКТУРА СТАНОВНИШТВА СРБИЈЕ У 19. ВЕКУ
AGE STRUCTURE OF SERBIAN POPULATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyzes the age structure of the population in Serbia in the 19th century, based on the data from the censuses carried out in 1854 and 1890. The analysis showed that Serbia in the 19th century had a large share of young population and proportionally smaller share of the adult and old population. These demographic characteristics ranked it among the countries with demographically progressive population. The young age structure was primarily the result of high fertility rates. High mortality rates contributed to a smaller share of the adult and old population. Until the beginning of the 1880s, Serbia, like most countries in the Eastern and Southeastern Europe, was in pre-transitional stage of demographic development, characterized by high birth and mortality rates. At the beginning of the 1880s, in Serbia began the first phase of demographic transition marked by declining mortality rates. Birth rates were still high, and their slight decrease occurred at the end of the 19th century. Such trends of demographic development contributed to the maintenance of the young age structure of the Serbian population. The age structure of the population was not identical in urban and in rural areas. Adult, working age population was much more represented in cities and there were proportionally lesser population under 15 years of age than in villages. These differences were largely the result of intensive migration to urban areas, since most of the urban immigrants were ablebodied adult men. Given that the vast majority of the population in Serbia lived in rural areas, the age structure of rural population significantly influenced the configuration of age structure of the whole country.

• Details
• Contents