Changes in Household Average Size in Serbia in the Second Half of the 20th Century

Abstract

In the last 50 years Serbia has experienced a number of great changes in all fields of social life. Periods of development and periods of great economical, political and social crisis interchanged. All those changes affected everyday life of our households which also had their own ups and downs. Under the influence of numerous improving, but also destabilizing factors, households have gradually changed their structure and population dimension in above mentioned time period. However, changes did not have equal effect in all regions of Serbia. Uneven tempo of social-economic development, diverse cultural and historical past, as well as demographic transition rate, affected great regional differences in average size of Serbian households. Average size of household in Central Serbia and Vojvodina, according to population dimension, resemble to average European household (about 3 members). On the other hand, households at Kosovo and Metohija, with over then six members average, are the largest in Europe.