Regional development strategy - RDA South

22.2REGIONAL PROFILEPopulation, Demographics, Human Resources and Labour Market2.2 Population,Demographics,Human Resources andLabour MarketREGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTHPopulation DataPopulation numbers for Kosovo show an increasingtrend. During the period between1948 and 2004 the annual numbers of birthshave been increasing. The total populationcount has also been growing with the exceptionof the period between 1992 and 1996 whena massive emigration took place. While currentlythere are no precise data for the populationdue to the lack of any recent census,therefore the determination of the populationfigures is done by using various methods. Accordingto the latest calculations, the latestnumber for population of Kosovo is estimatedto be close to 2,124,400 inhabitants.It is estimated that the current populationcount of the Economic Region South is about513.000 inhabitants which constitutes about24% of the population of Kosovo. The trend forthe population in the region is growing.While the region covers less than 19% of theterritory of Kosovo, the population density istherefore higher than average.Municipalities in the Region differ significantlyin population density, with Municipalitiesof Mamusha/Mamuša and Prizren beingthe most densely populated (respectively 458persons/km 2 and 375 persons/km 2 ) and Malisheva/Mališevobeing the most sparsely populated(212 persons/km 2 ).The ethnic structure of the Region’s populationis mixed where the Kosovar Albaniansconstitute over 88,5% (454.005 individuals) ofthe population. The other main ethnicitiespresent in the Regions are of Bosniak and Goraniethnicity with the share of 8% (41.040 individuals),ethnic Turks with 1,8% share (9.234individuals), ethnic Roma-Ashkali-Egyptiancommunity with 1,3% (6.669 individuals) andethnic Serbs with 0,4% (2.052 individuals)share of the population.Demographic DataRegion South has a population that can becharacterized as young. A study shows thatover 37% of the population is under the age of18. This is related to the average size of thehouseholds and the average number of childrenin the household which in this Regionare both much higher than the same figuresfor the entire Kosovo. The average size ofhouseholds and the number of children in themunicipalities of the Region South in comparisonto the average numbers for Kosovo ispresented in the table below.The age structure of the Region’s inhabitantsis such that increasing number of peopleare entering a professionally active age bracket(or „available for work”) which is consideredto be a significant potential. The proportionof children of the age of up to18-years-oldto the total population of this region is 37,1%.The gender structure of population is almostequally distributed with 50% female and 50%male population. For some municipalities ofthe region this structure may vary within therange of +5%. Number of births in the RegionTABLE 1: Assessment of population and territoryof the Economic Region SouthMunicipalityNumberof populationSurface (km 2 )Dragash/Dragaš 45.000 435Malisheva/Mališevo 65.000 307Prizren 240.000 640Rahovec/Orahovac 76.500 276Suhareka/Suvareka 81.000 361Mamusha/Mamuša 5.500 12Total for Region South 513.000 2.031% of total for Kosovo 24% 18.66%10