ZAGREB, July 6 (Hina)- Not in the last 200 years or during the war, has Croatia had such a low birth rate as in the last year, says professor Jakov Gelo, a demographer from The Zagreb Faculty of Economy, commenting on the most recent
records from the State Bureau of Statistics, according to which 43,746 children were born, and 50,246 of its citizens died in Croatia in 2000. Gelo said ''Croatia has been having a decrease in natural population growth for the past 10 years''. This trend, according to Gelo, is the most defeating in the past 200 years as Croatia has never had negative natural population growth for more than three years. The decrease is not over yet and it will deepen in the years or even decades to follow, which is also estimated by demographers of United Nations (UN). At the beginning of the 19th century, the number of newborn in Croatia was between 60,000 and 65,000; between 1880 and 1940 on average 120,000, and i
ZAGREB, July 6 (Hina)- Not in the last 200 years or during the war,
has Croatia had such a low birth rate as in the last year, says
professor Jakov Gelo, a demographer from The Zagreb Faculty of
Economy, commenting on the most recent records from the State
Bureau of Statistics, according to which 43,746 children were born,
and 50,246 of its citizens died in Croatia in 2000.
Gelo said ''Croatia has been having a decrease in natural
population growth for the past 10 years''. This trend, according to
Gelo, is the most defeating in the past 200 years as Croatia has
never had negative natural population growth for more than three
years. The decrease is not over yet and it will deepen in the years
or even decades to follow, which is also estimated by demographers
of United Nations (UN).
At the beginning of the 19th century, the number of newborn in
Croatia was between 60,000 and 65,000; between 1880 and 1940 on
average 120,000, and in 1909 the number was the highest with 141,110
newborn.
''The authorities have to realise that Croatian demographic trends
are very unfavourable and effective measures of the population
policy need to be put into action'', said Gelo, adding how the
latest measures - lowering of maternity leave compensations, the
reduction of child's benefits, and the reduction of tax reliefs for
employees with more then one child are not contributing to pro birth
rate policy. He suggested the Swedish model of birth rate policy
should be applied.
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