CONTEMPORARY DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES IN RURAL AREAS OF PODKARPACIE

Abstract

The unfavorable phenomena accompanying demographic processes in the 21st century have serious social and economic consequences. They are spatially diverse, and their negative effects are particularly felt in regions characterized by low population concentration. Such regions include rural areas of Podkarpacie. The aim of the research was to identify the main threats accompanying demographic transformations in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship and to recognize the resulting challenges. The factors analyzed were those that determine the demographic potential of a given territory, i.e. those that contribute to the actual increase and decrease in population and those that determine the degree of population aging. Special attention was paid to selected powiats classified as peripheral, least populated in the region. Comparative-descriptive, tabular and graphic methods were used to analyze and present the materials; the data covered the years 2000-2022. On the basis of structure and dynamics indicators, changes in demographic potential were assessed and the problems and challenges resulting from them were identified. Research has shown that the region’s population is declining and its age structure is deteriorating. The continuing negative natural growth and negative migration balance constitute a major threat resulting from the process of population aging and depopulation. Depopulation particularly threatens sparsely populated areas of the region, especially border gminas neighboring war-torn Ukraine.