Demographic transformation in the agglomerations of Dnipropetrovsk region

Abstract

This article examines the demographic situation in Dnipropetrovsk region and identifies the main demographic problems of the region , among which the most important are low fertility, reduced family size, high divorce rates and unregistered marriages, contimuing aging of the population, increased gender disproportion among the population, intra-regional and especially modern external migrations of the population, etc. The Dnipropetrovsk settlement system includes four industrial agglomerations: Dniprovsky-Kamianske, Kryvyi Rih, Nikopol and Pavlohrad, where more than 83.5% of the region’s population lives , indicating a high level of urbanization of the territory. It was found that the dynamics of the population of the urban agglomerations of the Dnipropetrovsk region over the past 20 years has a tendency to progressive reduction: if in 1997 the size of the existing population amounted to 3,888.8 thousand people, in 2017it amounted to 3,227.5 thousand people. It is stated that the natural replenishment of the population provides a continuous change of generations, creating the quantitative boundaries of labour resources of urban agglomerations of Dnipropetrovsk region. The current state of migration processes in the agglomerations of Dnipropetrovsk region is caused by socio-economic and political problems. This has led to an increase in labour out-migration, which now has already become catastrophic, not only in the Dnipropetrovsk region, but throughout Ukraine. Negative consequences of this are the depopulation of cities and areas of agglomerations, the outflow of high quality labour potential (and in particular qualified labour), the collapse of families, rise in crime and corruption, etc. In general, it is established that the demographic aspect, due to natural and mechanical movements, has become a determining factor in the formation of the labour resource situation and affects not only the process of replenishmnent itself, but also the structure of the economically active population. We present the general demographic features of the population's reproduction, in the urban agglomerations of Dnipropetrovsk region from 1997 to 2017; a decrease in the total population, a negative natural population growth (mortality rates will prevail over birth rates), aging of the population, which is reflected in an increase in the number of people aged 70, disproportion in the sexual structure of the population (prevalence of women), negative balance of migration and continuous outflow of inhabitants of reproductive age, especially to the countries of the European Union.