Some indicators of the uneven spatial distribution of the agricultural population in Croatia

The author analyzes the regional distribution of some features of Croatian agriculture, its human and work possibilities. There is most (relatively) agricultural population in the Bjelovar region (38.5%), whereas it has almost vanished from the Kvamer-Velebit littoral (1.85). It is scarce in Istria (6.5%), in Gorski kotar (4.6%), on the Dalmatian coast and the islands (5.0%). This segment of the population is rapidly ageing: only 6.6% are under the age of ten, whereas there are 15.3% people under ten in the non-agricultural population. The sex composition is also shifted: there is a pronounced shortage of men (only 43.8%). Of the total agricultural population of Croatia, 62.1% people are active. The others are maintained. There are significant regional differences. To analyze the »vitality« of Croatian agriculture we singled out an active agricultural contingent aged between 15 and 59. The level of education in the vital agricultural population is exceedingly unfavourable. 80% of them have no school at all or did not complette their primary education. Statistical data available was used to estimate the vitality of agriculture. Everyone younger than 15 and older than 59 was excluded. This reduced the total active agricultural contingent in Croatia by almost 30%. Available cultivable areas are the second part of the »index of vitality«. The number of hectares per »vital« farmer shows the locality and nature of Croatia’s agricultural potentials. This certainly needs additional analyses, but even on this level the facts are very indicative: the parts of Croatia where the agricultural population is sparse have large cultivable areas per one »vital« farmer — up to 32.1 ha in Gorski kotar or 18.1 ha in Istria. There is least cultivable land per »vital« farmer in the Hrvatsko Zagorje (3.3 ha) and in the Varaždin region (3.3 ha). The agriculturally overpopulated Bjelovar region has 4.3 ha per farmer, the Zagreb urban region 4.8 ha, and the other regions are close to the national average (5.6 ha). This analysis of agricultural »vitality« points to great imbalance in the distribution of fanners and land in Croatia. This is a more recent social and economic phenomenon and it must be solved on that level