Geogaphica Timisiensis, vol. 18, nr. 1-2, 2009 (pp. 5-17) ● MOVEMENT OF POPULATION IN THE ROMANIAN BORDER REGION, CASE STUDING: NOVA CRNJA MUNICIPALITY1 Tamara KOVAČEVIĆ, Branislav ĐURĐEV, Daniela ARSENOVIĆ University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Science, Department for Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management Abstract: Part of Banat which belongs to Republic Serbia has less population than the part which belongs to Romania. The lack of population is especially observed in border municipalities. The paper has been focused on population movement in municipality Nova Crnja. It is one of the three border municipalities of Banat across which an international road line goes by. The special attention has been paid to time period from the end of the World War Second until the last population register, which was organized in 2002. Also, the short analysis of different external influences on the population of municipality Nova Crnja has been performed. The task of this paper is to determine what kind of population movement, in which period and from which regions have influenced the movement of the number of population in the municipality Nova Crnja. In completing this task different literary references have been used and also statistical and mathematical methods. The importance of this work is in enriching the knowledge on demographic conditions in Banat. Rezumat: Mişcarea populaţiei în regiunea frontierei cu România. Studiu de caz: Nova Crnja. Partea Banatului care aparţine Serbiei este mai puţin populată decât cea care apaţine României. Lipsa populaţiei se observă mai ales în comunele de graniţă. Articolul se concentrază asupra mişcării populaţiei în municipalitatea Nova Crnja. Aceasta este una din cele trei municipalităţi de graniţă traversate de un drum internaţional. O atenţie spacială a fost acordată perioadei cuprinse între sfârşitul celui de+al doilea război mondial şi ultimul recensământ, din 2002. De asemenea, a fost realizată o scurtă analiză a diferitelor influenţe externe care au afectat populaţia municipalităţii Nova Crnja. Scopul acestui studiu este să determine ce tipuri de mişcare a populaţiei, în ce perioadă şi din ce regiuni au influenţat numărul populaţiei din această municipalitate. În acest scop, au fost utilizate diferite surse bibliografice şi metode statistice şi matematice. Importanţa acestui studiu este să aprofundeze cunoaşterea condiţiilor demografice din Banat. Key words: Nova Crnja, population growth, migrations, Banat Cuvinte cheie: Nova Crnja, creşterea populaţiei, migraţii, Banat 1 The paper is part of the project (EVB: 146017D) “Demographic transitions in Serbia” which is financed by Ministry of Science and Technological Development 6 ● Movement of population in the Romanian border region, case study: Nova Crnja 1. WHY NOVA CRNJA? According to data of official statistics in Romanian part of Banat live over one million of inhabitants (1.011.145), while in other part of Banat which belongs to Republic of Serbia live half of the number of inhabitants (665.397) (Anuarul Statistic al României, 2007, 14-16) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banat#The_Whole_Banat), (Republic Bureau of Statistics, 2004). Considering the fact that natural geographic conditions for settlement are almost identical, it is evident that differences have been anthropogenically conditioned (Davidović, 2004). The influence of anthropogenic factors on movement of population in Banat which belongs to Republic of Serbia can in some amount explain the stated differences. Namely, the population distribution on Banat region is not equally distributed. There is a noticeable less population density in border municipalities of Banat (Kicošev, Bubalo-Živković, Ivkov, 2005, 36). Three of nine border municipalities distinguish themselves (Nova Crnja, Vršac and Bela Crkva) because they have built infrastructure which enables international transport and there are border crossings (Geographical map of Vojvodina, 2001). According to criteria of distance from municipal center Novi Sad and according to the size of towns over which the main line of communications goes by, Nova Crnja has distinguished itself from the mentioned three towns as a municipality which in observed period, from the end of the World War Second i.e. the middle of the 20th until the beginning of the 21st century, has gained predispositions for the most certain development, especially, by opening of the international border crossing at Nova Crnja, in 1970. That is the period when borders between Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and Romania were open and when there were no obstacles for circulation of people and goods. Geographical position of municipality Nova Crnja has been improved since then. The circulation of population in the municipality Nova Crnja can illustrate the best how the conditions of that time influenced the population. Located in the northeastern Banat, municipality Nova Crnja belongs to the district of Middle Banat. In the West and Northwest it borders with the municipality Kikinda, in the south with municipality Žitiste, while its northeastern border is part of state border with Romania (fig. 1). 6 Tamara KOVAČEVIĆ, Branislav ĐURĐEV, Daniela ARSENOVIĆ ● 7 Fig. 1 Administratively geographical position of municipality Nova Crnja in Autonomous Province of Vojvodina Nova Crnja- poziţia geografică şi administrativă în Provincia Autonomă Vojvodina The municipality Nova Crnja covers the area of 273 km², which represents only 1.3% of the territory of Vojvodina (Republic Bureau of Statistics, 2004d). Its 12.924 inhabitants comprise 0.6% of Vojvodinian population. According to the population density, the municipality Nova Crnja with its 47.3 inhabitants on km² is almost more double less inhabited (1.9 times) than Province (94.5 inh/km²) (Republic Bureau of Geodesy, 2009). The main line of communications in the municipality Nova Crnja is the international road M-7. It, connecting Zrenjanin with the border of Serbia and Romania, and further with Timisoara, goes over municipality territory (fig. 2). From the town Nova Crnja in the northeastern direction bituminous road branches off across Rusko Selo to Kikinda (Geographic map of Vojvodina, 2001). Narrow-gauge railroad existed since the year of 1898 until the year of 1969. It connected larger number of populated places with Zrenjanin. “Ćira” transported daily migrants and agricultural products. With the development of road traffic, railroad became unprofitable (Bajić, 1984, 10). 8 ● Movement of population in the Romanian border region, case study: Nova Crnja 2. EVOLUTION OF THE NUMBER OF POPULATION Since the population register in the year of 1953, the number of inhabitants of the municipality Nova Crnja has decreased. The most intensive fall has been recorded in the decade, 1961-1971, of the most intensive industrialization, urbanization and deagrarization of the country. In the municipality Nova Crnja, the number of population has in the period between 1953 and 2002 decreased for 1.8 times (table 1). M-7 Fig. 2 Geographical positions of settlements in the municipality Nova Crnja Poziţia geografică a localităţilor municipalităţii Nova Crnja Except in the municipal center, Nova Crnja, also in other settlements of the municipality Nova Crnja the number of inhabitants has been decreasing since 1953. In some, for example Toba, Srpska Crnja and Radojevo (map 2), it has been decreased more than half during the observed period. In other municipalities that fall is smaller. In settlements with smaller number of population, the fall has been smaller. In Nova Crnja, the number of population has begun decreasing since 1961. Table 1 Evolution of the number of population in the municipality Nova Crnja according to the results of population register from 1948 to 2002 Evoluţia numărului de locuitori în municipalitatea Nova Crnja, conform rezultatelor înregistrărilor de populaţiei din perioada 1948-2002 Settlement 1948. 1953. 1961. 1971. 1981. 1991. 2002. Aleksandrovo 4564 4615 4034 3406 3061 2902 2702 8 Tamara KOVAČEVIĆ, Branislav ĐURĐEV, Daniela ARSENOVIĆ ● 9 Vojvoda Stepa 2832 3076 2857 2518 2032 1827 1760 Nova Crnja 3185 3310 3317 2911 2739 2353 1918 Radojevo 2869 2915 2595 2230 1872 1588 1399 Srpska Crnja 8220 7977 7376 6001 5467 5046 4451 Toba 1499 1489 1401 1232 1099 822 694 Total 23169 23382 21580 18298 16270 14538 12924 Source: Republic Bureau of Statistics, 2004 (Republički zavod za statistiku, 2004) 3. EVOLUTION OF POPULATION DENSITY Population density of the municipality Nova Crnja has been calculated according to the received data on areas of real estate registry municipalities. According to them, the total area differs, i.e. it is smaller than the official 5.6 km² (Republic Bureau of Geodesy, 2009). Table 2 Evolution of population density (pop/km²) in the municipality Nova Crnja, according to results of the population register from 1948 to 2002 Evoluţia densităţii populaţiei (loc/ km²) în municipalitatea Nova Crnja, conform rezultatelor înregistrărilor de populaţiei din perioada 1948-2002 Settlement 1948. 1953. 1961. 1971. 1981. 1991. 2002. Aleksandrovo 91,3 92,3 80,7 68,1 61,2 58,0 54,0 Vojvoda Stepa 69,0 74,9 69,6 61,3 49,5 44,5 42,9 Nova Crnja 219,5 228,1 228,6 200,6 188,8 162,2 132,2 Radojevo 70,5 71,6 63,7 54,8 46,0 39,0 34,4 Srpska Crnja 130,8 126,9 117,3 95,5 87,0 80,3 70,8 Toba 67,3 66,9 62,9 55,4 49,4 36,9 31,2 Total 100,1 101,1 93,3 79,1 70,3 62,8 55,9 Source: Republic Bureau of Geodesy, 2009 (Republički geodetski zavod, 2009) Since the end of the after war colonization, i.e. since the census from 1953, the population density in the municipality Nova Crnja has been decreasing (table 2). Only in the municipal center, Nova Crnja, that process has started from the next census in 1961. Compared to the average of the Province, only the municipal center has the larger population density while other municipal settlements have “fallen” bellow that average mainly in 1953, except Srpska Crnja (from 1981). The negative population growth and emigration, which appeared in the second half of the 20th century as a result of economical reasons, have had a negative impact on the decreasing of population density.