A total of 2,884 children were born in the Zenica-Doboj canton last year, of which 13 were stillborn – confirmed Feni, head of the Health Promotion Department of the Institute for Health and Food Safety in Zenica, Elma Kuduzović.
As Kuduzović points out, the data on the number of newborns, which fell below 3,000 for the first time last year, is worrying. The rate of stillbirths has decreased over the past few years.
“This data is especially worrying when we take into account the fact that in 2008 the number of live births was higher than 4,000. Since then, the birth rate has been on a downward trajectory, and various factors can be responsible for this – from the social environment, the economic power of the population, the fertility rate…”- says Kuduzović.
The total number of inhabitants in the area of that canton in 1991 was 475,431, and in 1998 it was 428,870. Since then, the total number of inhabitants has practically been in constant decline, and the biggest decline in the last 10 years or so was in 2016, when 361,031 inhabitants were recorded. In 2022, 352,114 inhabitants were recorded.
For the first time, the number of inhabitants fell below 400,000 in 2011, and that year it amounted to 399,856. Only in 2015, when 396,732 were recorded, the number of inhabitants in 12 municipalities and cities of that canton was higher than the year before. Namely, in 2014, ZDC had 387,813 inhabitants.
”The age structure of the population corresponds to the stationary-regressive type (birth and mortality rates coincide, there is no natural increase; the percentage of the young population decreases, and the percentage of the old population increases, which leads to depopulation) and looking at the municipalities, the most unfavorable situation is in the municipalities of Vareš, Usora and Olovo and Breza, and favorable in the municipalities of Doboj Jug, Tešanj and Žepče. This is extremely important information, because the age structure of the population determines the specificity of health needs. It represents the starting point for planning and programming measures that must be implemented in the community in order to optimally meet the needs in the field of health care and improve health within the framework of limited resources,” underlines Kuduzović.
Mortality is higher than the previous year, and has been on an upward trajectory in the last few years. As she explained, the COVID 19 pandemic also contributed to the increase in the mortality rate. The most unfavorable rate of natural increase is in the municipalities of Vareš, Breza and Olovo, and the canton as a whole has a negative rate. The birth rate is the most favorable in Tešanj, Doboj Jug and Kakanj.
The number of newborns and deaths over the past few years: 2011/3,726 newborns and 3,216 deaths; 2012/3,737 and 3,313; 2013/ 3,416 and 3,348; 2014/3,295 and 3,224; 2015/3,371 and 3,452… 2018/3,527 and 3,580; 2019/3,337 and 3,640; 2020/3,259 and 4,571 and 2021/3,172 and 4,986.
