Regional Assessment of the Change in Demographic Profile of Villages after the RDP Starting

M. Anastassova - Chopeva

Abstract: The total number of the population in rural areas is permanently decreasing in the period before EU accession and after that. For the period 2003-2006 the rural population has decreased with 105588 people or with 4,5%, and after our EU accession this decrease is even bigger- the rural regions have lost 107251 people (4,8%) for the period 2007-2010. This negative tendency puts a serious challenge to the implementation of the measures of the Rural Development Programme (RDP). The common tendency towards reducing the human resources in the villages is typical for all the planning regions, but the dynamics of the process is strongly emphasized in the traditionally less favorable North-West and North Central planning regions. The new development in this tendency is that the South-East region is already a part of this less favorable group. The worse age structure of the rural population after 2007 remains almost static compared to the period 2003-2006. The basic demographic indicators in the villages have extremely alarming values: birth rate, mortality rate including child mortality, population growth, age dependency ratio and demographic aging rate. There are slight positive changes related to the demographic indicators of the rural population in the South Central and South-West planning regions. The negative population growth has dominant role, compared to that of the population migration, in the structure of the main reasons for the continuing tendency of permanent decrease of the rural population. The implementation of the measures of RDP, aimed at increasing the quality of life of the rural population and diversifying the rural economy, still have no crucial role for achieving permanent and positive turn in the mechanical movement of the population. It is necessary to implement a complex approach in order to decrease the negative demographic processes in the rural areas. That is why, any of the reasons that lead to the negative demographic situation in the rural areas should not be underestimated. The mobilization of the efforts of the local authorities for faster utilization of EU funding for measures М 311; М 321; М 322 of RDP will limit the further depopulation of rural areas on one hand. On the other hand, at the same time and in accordance with the dominance of the negative population growth, adequate changes should be made in the demographic policy, in order to radically stimulate the birth rate so that even the small remaining birth contingents should be interested in having more children.

Keywords: age structure; birth rate; demographic processes; development planning; migration; mortality rate; natural growth

Date published: 2018-02-15