Demographic changes in the total number and ethnic structure of the population of Sirinic zupa from 1913 to 2011

Abstract

The geographical area of Sirinic zupa is a part of the region of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. The subject of studying the total number and ethnic structure of the population is based on the monitoring and analysis of demographic processes and their trends in Sirinic zupa from 1913 to 2011. With 16 settlements, Zupa represents a multi-ethnic area where Serbs, Albanians, Gorans, Muslims, Bosniaks and Roma have lived for centuries. As a separate parish, this region was first mentioned in the era of the Serbian medieval state. During the period of Turkish rule, and even later until the 19th century, settlements and economic life in Sirinic zupa stagnated. Sirinic zupa was included in the population censuses from 1913 to 2011. The population censuses from 1921 and 1931 clearly indicate an increase in the population. After the Second World War, Sirinic zupa was included in the censuses from 1948 to 2011. Censuses in the period from 1948 to 1989 record a constant increase in the population. However, the 1991 census recorded a decrease in the total number of inhabitants by 1% compared to the 1989 census. Demographic processes after 1999, when NATO bombed FR Yugoslavia and AP Kosovo and Metohija, unequivocally point to complex and serious factors that befell the Serbian community. The 2011 census, which was organized by the temporary institutions of Kosovo and Metohija, was boycotted by the Serbian population. Today, Serbs live in enclaves, displaced, without human dignity, without jobs and without conditions for returning to their centuries-old Serbian hearths. The current demographic processes in Sirinic zupa are characterized by the complexity identified through the reduction of the population, unfavourable security conditions for the Serbian community, unfavourable economic, health and social development.