Influence of food on the birth rate of the population in the Republic of Macedonia

In the hierarchy of needs, food is the most important, while the people with their existence, knowledge, skills and creativity are irreplaceable realizators of the success of any activity, any enterprise and any country. Statistical data indicate that during the last two or three decades the birth rate in the Republic of Macedonia has declined. The most significant biological factors show that in 1981 the number of live births in Republic of Macedonia was 39,488, in 2001 it was 27,010 and in 2011 the number of live births was 22,270. On the other hand, the area of cultivated land is declining; in 1981 it was 644 thousand hectares, in 2001 - 612 thousand hectares and in 2011 - 511 thousand hectares. According to the data of the State Statistical Office, the total number of livestock decreased; in 1981 it was 431 thousand heads, in 2001-274 thousand heads and in 2011 - 296 thousand heads of livestock. Hence, the data show that in the last decades the number of newborn children has been continuously declining and at the same time the area of cultivated land and the number of livestock have been decreasing. The coefficients of the correlation between cultivated land and birth rate on the one hand, and between livestock and birth rate on the other are quite high. The correlation coefficients are r = 0.87 and r = 0.86 respectively, while the determinations of these variables are 76% and 74%. This paper will discuss the development trends of some vegetable crops, as they are: wheat, corn and grapes, as well as some animal products, such as: cow’s milk, meat and eggs and their impact on population growth.In the empirical part we use VECM model, to investigate cointegration relationship between variables