Demographic Processes in the Southern Part of the Hungarian – Romanian Border

Abstract

This paper is a demographic comparative study of two neighboring regions along the southern part of the Romanian-Hungarian border region, which serves as a fundament for further analyses concerning the verification of cohesion between the two parts of the border. We have concluded our study with the statement that in spite of its traditionally low population increase, the Romanian Timiş and Arad counties have a more advantageous demographical condition than the neighboring Hungarian Békés and Csongrád counties, which can be described as having a generalized demographical decline. Though in Romania the Banat region for many decades is classified as a crisis-zone from a demographical point of view, it can show off an impressive attractiveness in terms of inner-migration in contrast to its Hungarian neighbors. In contrast with the northern part of the Romanian-Hungarian border, in this region the border strip does not overlap with a socio-economic periphery, because this phenomenon is more scattered in space.

Keywords

• Romanian-Hungarian border region
• Demographic periphery
• Territorial cohesion
• Social periphery