Serbia's population "among world’s fastest shrinking"

Serbia's population "among world’s fastest shrinking"

"The top ten countries with the fastest shrinking populations are all in Eastern Europe (with a few in Central and Northern Europe), according to UN projections. Bulgaria, Latvia, Moldova, Ukraine, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Hungary, are estimated to see their population shrink by 15 percent or more by 2050," the article said.

Bulgaria tops this list as "the world’s fastest shrinking country" where the population is expected to drop from seven million in 2017 to 5.4 million in 2050.

According to this, in Serbia, the population will decrease by 15 percent by 2050, in Croatia by 17 percent, and in Ukraine by 18 percent.

"In 2016, growth in Europe’s population was down largely to immigration," the qz.com article continued, adding that "While the number of births and deaths were equal at 5.1 million each, net migration boosted the population by 1.5 million to 511.8 million."

"Taking in more migrants might seem like an obvious solution to Eastern Europe demographic time bomb, but the issue remains politically toxic," the website said, and cited Tomas Sobotka from the Wittgenstein Center as saying that the population loss is "down to three factors: falling fertility rates, massive out-migration and relatively high mortality."