COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ETHNO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RUTHENIAN AND UKRAINIAN NATIONAL MINORITIES IN VOJVODINA

Abstract

The Republic of Serbia is in the ethnic sense multinational community. Besides Serbs (83.32%), Hungarians are the most numerous, followed by Roma and Bosniaks.The final results of Serbian 2011 census of population, households, and dwellings showed that in Serbia there are 21 ethnic communities whose number exceeds two thousand members. In this respect stands out Region of Vojvodina, which is one of the basic characteristics multiculturalism, or a high degree of joint habitation of different ethnic communities in the same area. In addition to the majority nation in Vojvodina live numerous national minorities differentiated in terms of demographic development, socio economic, historical, cultural and civilizational characteristics, national emancipation and political organization. Although represented in smaller numbers from other ethnic communities in Vojvodina, with a very small population resources, Ruthenians and Ukrainians have a very interesting folklore heritage and a variety of common, but different characteristics. Unlike the Ruthenians, who have migrated from the north-eastern counties of former Hungary in the eighteenth century, the current Ukrainians in Serbia, which mainly live in Vojvodina originate from migrations of Ukrainians from Bosnia, from the time when Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia were in the common state of Yugoslavia most mid-twentieth century. The paper analyses the population dynamics, ethno-demographic changes and spatial distribution of these minorities which are characterized by spacious dispersion or ethnic compactness or as a process of ethnic homogenization caused by many factors.

Keywords

• vojvodina
• ruthenians
• ukrainians
• censuses
• depopulation