Zagreb UDK: 314.8(497.5-3 Prekodravlje)

Prekodravlje is an area in Croatia between the Drava River and its left tributary, the @dalica River. This is a markedly lowland area of the Drava alluvial plain, with a total surface of 88.78 km2. It has six settlements with a total population of 3,286 according to the 2001 census. Prekodravlje is an area that has a long history of human habitation, but the current settlements are relatively young – as most of them emerged as the result of development in the early nineteenth century. An analysis of population trends, natural growth and the migration balance has shown that Preko-dravlje had the features of an immigration region only until the end of the nineteenth century, when intense growth in the number of inhabitants was conditioned by the high number of immigrants in relation to emigrants and high natural growth. In the entire subsequent one-hundred year period, i.e. already after 1910, Prekodravlje became a region marked by depopulation, and since 1971 its population has began dying off. Due to its position on a national border and its earlier relative transit iso-lation, this area saw little investment, so jobs outside of agri-culture were not created here. A portion of the labor force there-fore moved away. The consequence has been a decline in the population and aging of that same population. In recent years, the character of its position on the border has changed, and the transport and communications infrastructure has improved. The latter may even be reinforced with the introduction of telecom-munications links (Internet, mobile phone networks, etc.). The conditions have been created for the accelerated development of the secondary and tertiary sectors, which are technologically more complex and thus require a qualified labor force. So a higher general level of education and the corresponding school structure have become prerequisites for faster economic development and the halting of negative demographic trends