position of minorities in vojvodina province - Departamentul de ...

Geogaphica Timisiensis, vol. 18, nr.1-2, 2009 (pp. 19-36) ●POSITION OF MINORITIES IN VOJVODINA PROVINCEBranislav S. DJURDJEVAndjelija IVKOV-DŽIGURSKIAleksandra DRAGINUniversity of Novi Sad,Faculty of Sciences,Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel ManagementAbstract: The paper discusses the position of minorities in Vojvodina Province (Northern part ofSerbia Republic). Strengthening of ethnic awareness and process of democratization has contributedto a broader list of nationalities appearing with each new census. However, the changes in numberand share of certain nations are evident. The position of nations has been analyzed on the basis oftheir representation in the school system and the data of the unemployed according to theirnationalities. The main sources used were the census results, current data, as well as the results of thequestionnaires.Rezumat: Articolul prezintă poziţia minorităţilor în Provincia Vojvodina (nordul Republicii Serbia).Întărirea conştiinţei entice şi procesul democratizării au contribuit la lărgirea listei minorităţilor de laun recensământ la altul. Modificările în ponderea unor minorităţi sunt evidente. Poziţia naţiunilor afost analizată pe baza reprezentării în sistemul şcolar şi a datelor despre structura etnică a şomerilor.Principalele surse au fost: recensămintele, înregistrările curente şi chestionarele.Key words: Vojvodina Province, Serbia, ethnic structure, national minorities, demographictransitionCuvinte cheie: Provincia Vojvodina, structură etnică, minorităţi naţionale, tranziţie demograficăDuring the last three centuries the Vojvodina Province has changed several masters,like Turks, Austrians, Hungarians, Yugoslavs, and Serbs. Each of them were fulfilling thisarea with their own or loyal nationality. Ethnic complexity of the Serbian Province ofVojvodina is observed through a large number of nationalities, the number of people, andtheir share in the total population, and what is more important in their distribution andmutual relations. Similar ethnic variety in Europe can only be encountered in the area ofCaucasus.Ethnic heterogeneity is evident on municipal and settlement level, thus the symmetryin spatial distribution of certain nationalities is difficult to ascertain for most of thembecause there are no “ethnic cores” likewise in other parts of the world, where nations livein ethnically “pure” settlements. Industrial centres, settlements in their vicinity as well asthe settlements near the state and provincial borders have ethnically the most heterogeneouspopulation.The development of the ethnic structure in the area of the present Vojvodina in theperiod between the 1921 and 2001 censuses may be divided into several phases. The first

● Position of minorities in Vojvodina Province20one was connected with the period of Austrian-Hungarian domination by the year 1918. Itsmain feature was the increase in the absolute number of all ethnic groups.In the period between 1899 and 1913 the territory of the present Vojvodina,predominantly the Banat region was subjected to large emigrations. It has been estimatedthat between 100,000 and 150,000 people emigrated from this territory, mainly to theUnited States and other transatlantic countries. More than a half of the emigrants wereGermans, whereas the members of other ethnic communities participated less frequently inthe emigration process.After the First World War (1914-1918), the population of all ethnic groupsincreased, with the exception of Germans and Hungarians, since there was a largeemigration of state officials and brainpower to their countries of origin. Extreme increase innumber was registered with Croats, as the result of the fact that Bunjevci started declaringas Croats, i.e. they converted into Croats.The Second World War brought large consequences to the ethnic structure of thepopulation of Vojvodina Province (Ivkov, 2005). New Yugoslav legislation accusedGermans for collaboration with the Nazi army and in accordance with the decision ofcommunistic government (from November 21, 1944) all their properties were taken away(except from Germans who participated in anti-Nazi movement during the war). Accordingto 1948 census only 29589 Germans lived in Vojvodina Province which was only 8.8% oftheir number in 1921 census (Djurdjev, 1986; Djurdjev 1994).1. CENSUS DATA COLLECTION ABOUT NATIONALITIES IN 20 THCENTURYThe first population census in the former Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes,on January 31 st , 1921, did not include the question about nationality. Ethnic structure wasreconstructed on the basis of mother tongue and religion.The results extracted three groups:a) Nations (Serbs or Croats, Slovenes, Czechs, Ruthenians, Little Russians, Polish,Russians, Hungarians, Germans, Arnauts, Turks, Romanians, Italians, English,French)b) others andc) unknownThe data on the number of Macedonians and Montenegrins were not possible to obtainbecause neither those two nationalities existed at that time, nor the Macedonian languagewas officially recognized.The 1931 census first introduced the questions about the mother tongue, religion andnationality. Everyone could freely declare their nationalities and mother tongues. Since theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes changed its name into the Kingdom of Yugoslaviain 1929, the country’s policy grouped all the Yugoslav nationalities from the publishedresults under the title Yugoslav nationalities, speaking Yugoslav language, for nationalitiesoutside the group the precise data on nationality were given.After the Second World War, the republics were formed associated with one mainnationality, except for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Constitutive nation togetherwith Croats in Croatia were also Serbs. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, apart from Serbs and20

● Position of minorities in Vojvodina Province24Table 2 Population of Vojvodina according to national and ethnic belonging, in1991 and 2002Structura populaţiei Vojvodinei conform aparteneţei entice şi naţionale,în 1991 şi 2002NationalityCensus 1991 Census 2002Number % Number %Total 2,013,889 100.0 2,031,992 100.0Serbs 1,143,723 56.8 1,321,807 65.0Montenegrins 44,838 2.2 35,513 1.7Yugoslavs 174,295 8.7 49,881 2.5Albanians 2,556 0.1 1,695 0.1Bosniaks - - 417 0.0Bulgarians 2,363 0.1 1,658 0.1Bunjevci 21,434 1.1 19,766 1.0Vlachs 132 0.0 101 0.0Goranci - - 606 0.0Hungarians 339,491 16.9 290,207 14.3Macedonians 17,472 0.9 11785 0.6Moslems 5,851 0.3 3,634 0.2Germans 3,873 0.2 3,154 0.2Romas 24366 1.2 29,057 1.4Romanians 38809 1.9 30,419 1.5Russian 1,019 0.1 940 0.0Ruthenians 17,652 0.9 15,626 0.8Slovaks 63,545 3.2 56,637 2.8Slovenians 2,730 0.1 2,005 0.1Ukrainians 4,565 0.2 4,635 0.2Croats 74,808 3.7 56,546 2.8Czechs 1,844 0.1 1,648 0.1Others 5,100 0.3 5,311 0.3Undeclared and undecided 5,427 0.3 55,016 2.7Regional belonging 2,503 0.1 10,154 0.5Unknown 15,493 0.8 23,774 1.2Source: Census data for 1991 and 2002. Federal (since 2002 census, Republic) Office ofStatistic, Belgrade24

Branislav ĐURĐEV, Andjelija IVKOV-DŽIGURSKI, Aleksandra DRAGIN ● 252. CHANGES IN THE SHARE OF NATIONALITIES IN TOTALPOPULATIONDuring the post war period and up to the 1960s, the number of almost all ethnicgroups was increasing due to the high natural growth rate. Slightly more dynamic increasewas recorded among Serbs and Montenegrins since most of the population that arrived toVojvodina during the colonization period were of the same origin coming from other partsof the former SFRY. However, as soon as that period ended there was the decrease ofnatural growth, which led to decrease in number of most of the ethnic groups in Vojvodina.Serbs recorded increase even in this period, which was the result of assimilation andemigration, whereas the increase recorded with Montenegrins was the result of theircontinuous immigration.Ethnic heterogeneousness is the consequence of a large number of mixed marriagesand a large number of those who declared as Yugoslavs, which finally led them to theposition of the third largest group in 1981.The beginning of 1990s announced new significant changes in the ethnic structure ofthe population in Vojvodina. Nationalism was flourishing in the former republics of SFRYwhich resulted in migrations of Yugoslav nations to their home countries.One third of the forced migrants found their refuge in Vojvodina. Consequently,such exodus of the population, which has never been recorded in the history of this area,had to reflect to the ethnic structure of Vojvodina.The reasons were numerous, the emigration of Croats and their re-declaration asBunjevci and Sokci, as well as the immigration of Serbs from Croatia and Bosnia andHerzegovina. With the burst out of the war in the former SFRY, such processes reachedtheir peaks. Masses of Serbian refugees found refuge in Vojvodina, whereas a number ofnational minorities left Vojvodina Province. However, the reasons for their immigrationwere not merely political but also economic, due to difficult living conditions underinternational economic sanctions to FR Yugoslavia. For that reason a part of domesticSerbian population also left Vojvodina Province.Altogether, it led to certain changes in the ethnic structure of Vojvodina. Althoughthe ethnic variety has been preserved to a great extent, both the number of certain nationsand their share in the total population of Vojvodina have changed.According to the 1948 census data, four nations formed majorities in most of themunicipalities in Vojvodina. Apart from Serbs other three nations forming majorities were:Hungarians, Slovaks and Romanians. Serbs formed a majority in six municipalities:Sombor, Kula, Vrbas, Apatin, Bač and Plandište. In twenty-seven municipalities Serbsformed an absolute majority. Hungarians formed an absolute majority in ninemunicipalities.On the basis of the 2002 census data, first the increase of 9% in Serbian populationwas noticeable, then the decrease of 1% in Croatian population (in part due to immigrationprocess and in part to their declaration as Bunjevci and Šokci). More detailed analysis ofthe results of the latest 2002 census points out the decrease of the share of othernationalities. Thus, there has been a significant decrease of 2.5% in Hungarian population,whereas among other nations (Slovaks, Ruthenians and Romanians) the decrease has beenabout 0.5%.

● Position of minorities in Vojvodina Province26Interestingly enough there was the decrease of the share of those declaringthemselves as Yugoslavs. According to the 1991 census, it was recorded that their sharewas 8.7% of the total population in Vojvodina. The latest census data show that thepercentage lowered to 2.5%. This phenomenon might have been expected, because fallingapart of the former SFRY, initiated that most of those who used to declare as Yugoslavs(mainly from mixed marriages) decided upon the nation of either parent (Ivkov, 2006a).In comparison to 1948 census data, the 2002 census data recorded minimal changesin the national majority. Only the share of the national majority changed, with theexception of Alibunar in which Romanians formed a relative national majority in 1948, butin 2002 Serbs formed an absolute national majority. At the same time, it was the onlymunicipality in which Romanians formed a national majority in 1948. Furthermore,Hungarians “lost” Temerin where Serbs form an absolute majority today (fig. 1).Fig. 1a. Population share of the largest nationality in the municipalities ofVojvodina according to the 1948 census dataPonderea celei mai numeroase naţionaităţi în municipalităţile Provinciei Vojvodina,conform recensământului din 194826

Branislav ĐURĐEV, Andjelija IVKOV-DŽIGURSKI, Aleksandra DRAGIN ● 27Fig. 1b Population share of the largest nationality in the municipalities ofVojvodina according to the 2002 census dataPonderea celei mai numeroase naţionaităţi în municipalităţile Provinciei Vojvodina,conform recensământului din 20023. GENDER STRUCTURE OF ETHNIC GROUPSThe analysis of the census data in 1991 and 2002 reveals the dominance of femalepopulation whose share according to the 1991 census data was 51.3% and to the 2002census data it was 51.5% (table 3).According to the 1991 census data the surplus of the male population was recordedwith Albanians, Moslems, Montenegrins and Roma, whereas with other nations the surplusof female population was registered, especially with Croats and Yugoslavs.The 2002 census indicated that the surplus of male population was recorded as in theprevious census with Moslems, Roma, Montenegrins and Albanians especially (64.2%). Ifthe results are compared, it is evident that only with Montenegrins and Roma (Ivkov,Dragin, Kovačević, 2007) there was and increase in the share of male population comparedto female in 2002, of 0.7% and 0.2% respectively.The surplus of male population with those ethnic groups is explained by selectivemigrations.As far as female population is concerned, the highest share of females in 2002 wasrecorded with Croats (56.6%), then followed Yugoslavs (52.9%), and Hungarians (52.7%).

● Position of minorities in Vojvodina Province28The similar situation was recorded in the 1991 census, when the share of female populationwas slightly smaller: Croats (53.9%), Yugoslavs (52.8%) and Hungarians (54.2%).Table 3 Gender structure of the most frequent ethnic groups in Vojvodina(censuses 1991 and 2002)Structura pe genuri a celor mai importante grupuri entice din Vojvodina(recensămintele 1991 şi 2002)Males and females ratioCensus 1991 Census 2002EthnicgroupsAbsolute Relative (%) Absolute Relative (%)male female mal female male female mal femaleeeSerbs 563,317 580,406 49.3 50.7 646,404 675,403 48.9 51.1Montenegrins 23,738 21,100 52.9 47.1 19,047 16,466 53.6 46.4Yugoslavs 82,263 92,032 47.2 52.8 23,475 26,406 47.1 52.9Albaninas 1,678 878 65.5 34.4 1,088 607 64.2 35.8Hungarians 161,632 177,859 47.6 52.4 137,145 153,062 47.3 52.7Moslems 3,111 2,740 53.2 46.8 1,847 1,787 50.8 49.2Romas 12,411 11,955 50.9 49.1 14,855 14,202 51.1 48.9Romanians 18,940 19,869 48.8 51.2 14,658 15,761 48.2 51.8Slovaks 30,688 32,857 48.3 51.7 27,151 29,486 47.9 52.1Croats 34,521 40,287 46.1 53.9 24,527 32,019 43.4 56.6Others 48,432 53,175 47.7 52.3 74,745 81,851 47.7 52.3Vojvodina 980,731 1,033,15 48.7 51.3 984,942 1,047,05 48.5 51.580Source: Federal of Statistics, Population census 1991, book 5: gender and age accordingto ethnic belonging, Federal Office of Statistics, Belgrade 1993 and Population,households and flats census in 2002, Religion, mother tongue, and national or ethnicbelonging according to age and gender, Book 3 , Belgrade 2003The balanced gender structure was recorded with Serbs, which was expected due tothe fact that as the largest ethnic group on the territory of Vojvodina, they rarely gotinfluenced by outside factors (Ivkov, 2006a).4. REPRESENTATION OF MINORITIES IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEMPrimary education in mother tongues of national minorities is conducted if there areat least 15 students who enrolled the first grade, but there is the option for the school toopen the minority grade for even the smaller number of students. On the other hand for theminority students attending the school programme in Serbian, there is a course of mothertongue along with the elements of national culture within the elective group of courses, twoclasses per week, in case the pupils or parents are interested in the course.Hungarians. Primary education in Hungarian was conducted in 29 municipalities,113 educational units, i.e. 83 primary schools and 35 subsidiary units in the 1997/199828

Branislav ĐURĐEV, Andjelija IVKOV-DŽIGURSKI, Aleksandra DRAGIN ● 29school year. At that time, the application of at least five students was required to start theteaching process in Hungarian language.The total number of Hungarian students in primary education was 27,140, out ofwhich 21,496 or 79.2% were educated in their mother tongue. The remaining 5,633 or20.8% pupils were educated in Serbian language, but they were provided with an electivecourse in Hungarian language with elements of national culture twice a week. 1,732Hungarian students out of those 5,633 attended the course.9,502 Hungarian students attended secondary education in the same year. 6,575 outof the total number of Hungarian students or 69.2% of them were educated in their mothertongue.Hungarian students received education in their mother tongue at three highereducation institutions: Advanced School for Teachers in Novi Sad and Subotica, andAdvanced Technical School in Subotica. At university level, the educational process inHungarian language was conducted at the Faculty of Philosophy, Faculty of Economics,Faculty for Teachers, and the Academy of Arts (Ivkov, 2006). Hungarian students make9.0% (579) of the total number of higher education students, out of that 579 students, 264students attend lectures in Serbian, and 315 in Hungarian. 1,703 Hungarian students or6.4% of the total number of university students in Vojvodina attended university education.Out of that number, 1,703 students attended lectures in Serbian and 411 in Hungarianlanguage.Slovaks. Parallel to the use of Serbian language and alphabet, there is officiallyacknowledged use of Slovakian language and alphabet in the municipalities of Alibunar,Bač, Bačka Palanka, Bačka Topola, Bački Petrovac, Beočin, Zrenjanin, Kovačica, Odžaci,Plandište, Stara Pazova, Šid and the town of Novi Sad (Ivkov, 2006).In the school year 1997/1998, educational process in Slovakian language wasconducted in 12 municipalities, 17 primary schools and 2 subsidiary units with the totalnumber of 3,909 students in 185 grades. The educational process in mother tonguecomprised 73.5% of the total number of Slovak students in primary education. Bilingualeducation in Serbian and Slovak languages was conducted in two municipalities, i.e. twoprimary schools with 115 students in 5 graded. For other 707 students who were educatedin Serbian language, there was an elective course in Slovak language with elements ofnational culture twice a week in the school year 1998/1999.1,861 students of Slovak nationality attended secondary schools in the school year1997/1998, out of which 390 students or 21.0% were educated in their mother tongue. Theeducational process in Slovak language was organized in two secondary schools (grammarschools in Bački Petrovac and Kovačica), precisely in 13 grades. The learning of mothertongue with elements of national culture was organized for 221 students of Slovaknationality who were educated in Serbian language in seven secondary schools.In the school year 1997/1998, institutions of higher education were attended by 92students of Slovak nationality or 1.1% of the total number of university students. Out ofthat number 30 students were educated in their mother tongue (Department of Slovaklanguage at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad). The subsidiary of Teachers’ Facultyfrom Sombor has been opened in Bački Petrovac, where the students attended lectures inSlovak language and prepare for teaching hobs in Slovak language.

Branislav ĐURĐEV, Andjelija IVKOV-DŽIGURSKI, Aleksandra DRAGIN ● 31There are 8,236 books in Rutheninan language in the libraries of municipalities ofBačka Topola, Vrbas, Žabalj, Kula, Šid and the town of Novi Sad (Ivkov, 2006).Roma. The largest number of Roma students received education in Serbian,Hungarian, Slovak and Ruthenian language. Elective Romany language teaching wasorganized in two primary schools (Tovariševo and Obrovac). In 2000 an ABC book inRomany language was published.Ukrainians. For 117 students in five primary schools in the municipalities of Vrbasand Kula the educational process was conducted in Ukrainian with elements of nationalculture. Since 1998, there has been a summer school for preserving the Ukrainian languageintended for children of Ukrainian origin.Croats, Bunjevci. Croatian language is officially used in the municipality ofSubotica. During the 19 th century, a number of young Bunjevci population was educated inmonastery’s public school of the Sisters of the Community of Our Lady.5. UNEMPLOYED PERSONS ACCORDING TO NATIONALITYAt present, labour market is not tracing the national structure of the unemployed.Every unemployed person fills in a form with some information required, among whichnationality declaration is demanded, but still the data have not been processed in the total.The data on national belonging of the unemployed have not been published in any form onthe basis of the censuses after the Second World War. The national structure analysis of theunemployed is based on the data from the unpublished reports of Labour Market. Amongthe unemployed the leading position is occupied by Serbs (59.1 %), and then followHungarians (14.8 %), Yugoslavs (6.8 %), Roma (4.4 %), Slovaks (2.6 %), Croats (2.4 %),Montenegrins (1.8 %) etc. Ethnic structure of the unemployed complies with the ethnicstructure of the total population. For example, Croats had the share of 2.8% in the totalpopulation and 2.3% in the unemployed in 2002. The second largest ethnic group,Hungarians had the share of 14.3% in the total population and 14.8% in the unemployed.The deviation was observed with the Roma group who had the share of 1.4% in the totalpopulation of Vojvodina and 4.4% in the unemployed. However, it should be consideredthat the education of Roma is on a lower level in comparison to other ethnic groups (table4).The Central Serbia is an ethnically homogenous territory, with Serbs having theshare of 89.5% in the total population. Therefore, the analysis of ethnic structure of theunemployed is unnecessary.The analysis of unemployment in the municipalities of Vojvodina (Ivkov,Kovačević, Dragin, Djurdjev, Ivanović, 2007), according to variations in their ethnicstructure (Ivkov, Romelić, Lazić, Dragin, Ivanović, 2007), may indicate possiblediscrimination in employment procedure. The analysis by counties 1 and municipalities ofVojvodina shows that in the period 2000-2002 the highest increase in unemployment wasrecorded in Srem (table 5). The index value of 134.18 assigned this county the leadingposition, then followed Severno-banatski (index 128.3), Zapadno-bački (index 124.6), etc.1 The territory of Vojvodine comprises seven administrative units, counties: Severno-bački(Subotica), Zapadno-bački (Sombor), Južno-bački (Novi Sad), Severno-banatski (Kikinda),Srednje-banatski (Zrenjanin), Južno-banatski (Pančevo), Sremski (Sremska Mitrovica).

● Position of minorities in Vojvodina Province32Table 4 Total population and unemployed persons according to nationality, inVojvodina 2002Populaţia totală şi şomerii pe naţionalităţi, în Vojvodina2002Nationality Unemploye % Total %dSerbs 86,894 59.1 1,321,80 65.07Montenegrins 2,629 1.8 35,513 1.7Yugoslavs 10,042 6.8 49,881 2.5Albanians 296 0.2 1,695 0.1Bulgarians 59 0.0 1,658 0.1Hungarians 21,861 14.8 290,207 14.3Macedonians 2,264 1.5 11,785 0.6Moslems 669 0.4 3,634 0.2Germans 864 0.6 3,154 0.2Romas 6,415 4.4 29,057 1.4Romanians 2,154 1.5 30,419 1.5Russians 44 0.0 940 0.0Ruthenians 1,342 0.9 15,626 0.8Slovaks 3,808 2.6 56,637 2.8Slovenians 979 0.7 2,005 0.1Ukrainians 353 0.2 4,635 0.2Croats 3,552 2.4 56,646 2.8Czechs 112 0.1 1,648 0.1Greeks 68 0.0 - -Danes 201 0.1 - -Italians 38 0.0 - -Jews 73 0.0 - -Polish 67 0.0 - -Others 258 0.2 5,311 0.3Undeclared and undecided 1,718 1.2 55,016 2.7Regional belonging 352 0.2 10,154 0.5Total 147,117 100.02,031,992100.0Source: data on unemployed from annual reports of the Republic Office for Labour MarketEmployment - Novi Sad. The reports are not published; national structure of the totalpopulation: Announcement 252, 2002:2Note: The segment up to the total number of the unemployed is of unknown nationality.Within the Srem County the highest increase in the unemployment was in themunicipality of Irig (127.0) which was significantly higher than the mean value forVojvodina (118.9). Dominating nationality in the municipality of Ruma as well as in Irig is32

Branislav ĐURĐEV, Andjelija IVKOV-DŽIGURSKI, Aleksandra DRAGIN ● 33Serbian. In Ruma its share was 86.6% in the total population, and in Irig 79.5%. InSeverno-banatski County, the number of the unemployed increased significantly in themunicipality of Čoka. The index value of 121.55 indicated the largest increase inunemployment in relation to all other municipalities in Vojvodina. The municipality ofČoka has ethnically heterogeneous structure. The two largest ethnic groups, Hungarians(51.6 %) and Serbs (37.6 %) make 89.2% of the total population. Conclusions about ethnicdiscrimination in the employment process must not be made upon this data, e.g. Hungarianshave the share 86.5% in the municipality of Kanjiža, which is also in Severno-banatskiCounty, but the increase in the number of the unemployed was among the lowest) 113.5 inVojvodina. In Zapadno-bački County, the highest increase of the unemployed was recordedin the municipality of Sombor (index 132.7), the town of heterogeneous ethnic structure.Table 5 The unemployed in AP Vojvodina by municipalities, 31 st October 2002Şomerii în Provincia Autonomă Vojvodina, la 31 decembrie 2002TheTheregionindex regionindexunemployedunemployedmunicipality2002/2000 municipality2002/20002000 20022000 2002Subotica 15,759 17,673 112.1 Severno-banatski 18,776 24,083 128.3B.Palanka 3,622 4,577 126.4 Zrenjanin 15,783 16,945 107.4Mali Iđoš 1,706 1,800 105.5 Sečanj 1,852 2,341 126.4Severno-bački 21,087 24,050 114.1 Žitište 2,292 2,551 111.3Sombor 10,152 13,473 132.7 Novi Bečej 2,894 3,607 124.6Apatin 4,064 4,680 115.2 Nova Crnja 2,222 2,518 113.3Odžaci 4,854 5,525 113.8 Srednje-banatski 25,043 27,962 111.7Kula 5,879 7,399 125.9 Pančevo 17,539 19,840 113.1Zapadno-bački 24,949 31,077 124.6 Alibunar 1,857 2,404 129.5Novi Sad 29,948 35,273 117.8 Kovačica 3,520 4,195 119.2B. Petrovac 1,962 1,821 92.8 Kovin 3,557 3,750 105.4Beočin 1,784 2,385 133.7 Opovo 1,524 2,032 133.3Žabalj 4,725 5,255 111.2 Vršac 5,850 7,222 123.5Stari Bečej 4,240 4,244 100.1 Bela Crkva 2,620 3,153 120.3Srbobran 2,825 3,046 107.8 Plandište 1,937 1,749 90.3Titel 1,823 2,213 121.4 Južno-banatski 38,404 44,345 115.5Temerin 2,598 3,400 130.9 Sr. Mitrovica 9,526 12,254 128.6Bačka Palanka 8,210 9,609 117.0 Irig 1,456 1,849 127.0Bač 2,699 2,577 95.5 Inđija 6,514 8,487 130.3Vrbas 7,400 6,839 92.4 Pećinci 2,109 2,718 128.9Južno-bački 68,214 76,662 112.4 Ruma 5,972 8,664 145.1Kikinda 7,881 10,064 127.7 Stara Pazova 5,795 7,787 134.4Ada 2,060 2,571 124.8 Šid 3,589 5,153 143.6Čoka 1,160 2,106 181.6 Sremski okrug 34,961 46,912 134.2Senta 3,299 4,055 122.9Kanjiža 3,077 3,493 113.5 Total 231,434 275,091 118.9N. Kneževac 1,299 1,794 138.1Source: for the year 2000 (on December, 31 st 2000): Municicpalities in Serbia in 2001,Republic Statistisal and Information Office. Belgrade, March 2002, pp. 117, 118; for theyear 2002 (on October, 31 st 2002): Tabular survey of employment, methods of employmentand unemployment in AP Vojvodina, October 2002, Republic Labour Office - Novi Sad,

● Position of minorities in Vojvodina Province34November 2002, table 6The decrease in the number of the unemployed occurred in the municipalities ofethnic diversity. For instance, the number of the unemployed decreased in the municipalityof Bački Petrovac, Južno-bački County (index 92.4) in the period 2000-2002. Slovaksform a majority (66.4%) in this municipality. Then, the decrease in the number of theunemployed was also recorded in the municipality of Bač (index 95.5) and Vrbas (index92.4), both of heterogeneous ethnic structure. Finally, the number of the unemployeddecreased in the municipality of Plandište Južno-banatski County (index 90.3), also ofheterogeneous ethnic structure (table 5).6. CONCLUSIONNational and linguistic structure of the population is one of the indicators of varietiesin the world. The differences are traced back to ethnic and historical features of thepopulation. As the result of major historical events which resulted in frequent migrations,Vojvodina is still one of ethnically most heterogeneous areas in the world. Ethnicheterogeneousness became observable right after the Turks were forced to leave, when theAustrian Empire commenced the large colonisations to economically reactivate the areawhich was almost abandoned. Afterwards, the rulers of the Province were constantlychanging but they were persistent in populating the Province with their own people.The data on the status of minorities in the school system and the data on theunemployed according to their nationality point out that there is the continuity of normativebetterment of the status of minorities. Unfortunately, the events in the last decade of the20 th century initiated the process of ethnic homogenization in all the countries emerged onthe territory of the Former Yugoslavia.In Vojvodina, the people live peacefully together. The beginning of the 1990sannounced the new significant changes in the ethnicity of the population in Vojvodina,which influenced certain changes in the ethnic structure. Although ethnic variety has beenmainly preserved, the number of certain nations and their share in the total population inVojvodina has changed.REFERENCES AND DATA SOURCESBubalo Živković Milka, Đurđev S. Branislav, Dragin Aleksandra,(2008), The ageing of Vojvodina`s population between 1953 and 2002with reference to middle adulthood and ageing index. GeographicaPannonica, University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Natural Science andMathematics, Department of Geography, Tourism and HotelManagement, Novi Sad, Vol. 12 (pp. 39 - 44)34

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