Post Communist Geo-Demographic Features of Vrancea Rural Space

Raluca-Ioana HOREA-ŞERBAN1
1 “Al. I. Cuza” University, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Iaşi, ROMANIA 
E-mail: ralusel@yahoo.com
Pages: 235-243

Abstract. The change of the political and socio-economic system in 1989 introduced significant modifications in the recent geo-demographic evolution of Vrancea rural space. The analysis of the natural dynamics of the population reveals the increasing vulnerability of the demographic system of rural areas in Vrancea in the context of the decline of the fertility indicators and of a deepening ageing process, illustrated by an increasing deviation between the contingents of young and old population. From the migratory point of view, the post December industrial recession ended up with the massive and forced dismissal of large masses of urban labour force, for which the main subsistence options in the new context were either the urban exodus or the temporary emigration abroad. The present paper outlines the rural return areas of maximum incidence (the piedmont region at the south of Putna river, the largest part of the plain area at the south-east of Focşani) and the areas that still preserve a natural excess, capable to counterbalance the migratory deficit (the Carpathian and sub-Carpathian region overlapping the inferior basins of Putna, Năruja and Zăbala rivers).

K e y w o r d s:  demographic vulnerability, bottom-up ageing, top-down ageing, migratory deficit