Demographics of Bratislava

This page gives an overview to the demographics of Bratislava.

Population

According to the 2001 census, the city had 428,672 inhabitants (the estimate for 2005 is 425,459).[1] The average population density was 1,157 inhabitants/km² (2,997/mi²).[1] The most populous district is Bratislava V with 121,259 inhabitants, followed by Bratislava II with 108,139, Bratislava IV with 93,058, Bratislava III with 61,418 and Bratislava I with 44,798.[2] The largest ethnic groups in 2001 were Slovaks with 391,767 inhabitants (91.37% of the city population), followed by Hungarians with 16,541 (3.84%) and Czechs with 7,972 (1.86%). Other ethnic groups are Germans (1200, 0.28%), Moravians (635, 0.15%), Croats (614, 0.14%), Ruthenes (461, 0.11%), Ukrainians (452, 0.11%), Romani (417, 0.08%), and Poles (339, 0.08%).[1][2]

Historical population

Population of Bratislava[1][3][4]
Year Population Year Population Year Population
1400 11,000 1880 48,000 1950 184,400
1786 31,700 1900 61,500 1961 241,800
1802 29,600 1910 78,200 1970 291,100
1820 34,400 1921 93,200 1980 380,300
1846 40,200 1930 123,800 1991 442,197
1869 46,500 1939 138,500 2001 428,672

Ethnic history

1930 census (city borders administratively expanded)
Ethnic group Population
Slovaks and Czechs 60,013
Germans 32,801
Hungarians 18,890
Jewish 4,747
Rusyns 199
Other 247
Language Population
German 32,790
Hungarian 31,705
Slovak 11,673
Croatian 351
Serbian 24
Other 1,638
of these Jewish 8,207

From the 13th century until the 19th century, German speakers were the dominant ethnic group.[5] However, after the Compromise of 1867, the government encouraged Magyarization and, by the end of World War I, Bratislava was predominantly made up of German and Hungarian speakers, with Slovaks as the largest minority. While a minority, Jews from German and Hungarian-speaking areas contributed much to the intellectual culture of the city.[5] Interpretation of census results is complicated, since before 1918, language was used as census criterion, and after 1918, self-identified ethnicity.

In addition, as Bratislava since 1918 has enlarged its territory several times, a more accurate assessment of early demographics might take into account the formerly independent communities (Dúbravka, Lamač, Rača, etc.), which were mostly Slovak. An alternative would be to compare only those districts which officially belonged to the city in the time of a given census. Moreover, residents of mixed origin tended to identify with the dominant political group, such as Hungarian before 1918, and Slovak after 1918; that is, what would be the most suitable or least dangerous identity.[5] For example, the proportion of ethnic Hungarians appeared to increase from 7.5% in 1850 to 40.53% in 1910. It is more likely that people of mixed backgrounds identified with the one in power. Similarly, the apparent population of Slovaks "jumped" from 14.42% in 1910 to 33% in 1919, but this may have reflected changing self-identification, rather than an exchange of peoples. Many people were bi- or trilingual and multicultural. Because of the pressure of Magyarisation, at one time Slovaks identified or presented themselves as ethnic Hungarians.

After the formation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, Bratislava remained a multiethnic city, but with a different demographic trend. After active Slovakization, the proportion of Slovaks and Czechs increased, while the proportion of Germans and Hungarians fell. With the shift in government, many of the largely Hungarian former government employees emigrated. Czechs and Slovaks immigrated to the city to take their places in jobs. In 1938, 59% of population were Slovaks or Czechs, while Germans represented 22% and Hungarians 13% of the city's population.[6]

The creation of the first Slovak Republic in 1939 brought other changes, most notably the expulsion of many Czechs and Jews under Nazi influence, with the deportation of Jews continuing in the early 1940s, leading to most of the 15,000 from Bratislava being killed or dying from maltreatment in German concentration camps.[5] In 1945, most of the ethnic Germans were evacuated. After the restoration of Czechoslovakia, the Beneš decrees collectively punished ethnic German and Hungarian minorities by expropriation and deportation to Germany, Austria, and Hungary for their alleged collaboration with Nazi Germany and Hungary against Czechoslovakia.[7]

This was part of a postwar population transfer approved by the Allies, with the thought of reducing future tensions. Ethnic Germans were expelled from across eastern Europe. The stripping of Slovak citizenship from the Hungarian and German ethnics also forced the minorities to leave the city. Also, Hungary and Slovakia made population exchanges, which further decreased the number of the Hungarians in the city. The city utterly lost its multicultural character and much of its vitality.[7] Since the 1950s, the Slovaks have been the dominant ethnicity in the town, making up around 90% of the city's population.[5] By the mid 1970s, it had surpassed Brno as the second-largest city of Czechoslovakia, and reached one-third the size of Prague, the capital.

Development of the ethnic composition of Bratislava (within the borders of the city in the current year):
Year Slovaks Czechs Germans Hungarians Jews
1850 18% ? 75% 7.5% ?
1880 8% ? 68% 8% 16%
1910 14.92% ? 41.92% 40.53% ?
1919 33% ? 36% 29% ?
1930 33% 23% 25% 16% 3.83%
1940 49% ? 20% 9.53% 8.78%
1961 95.15% 4.61% 0.52% 3.44% 0%
1970 92% 4.6% 0.5% 3.4% 0%
1991 93.39% 2.47% 0.29% 4.6% 0%
2001 91.39% 2% 0.28% 3.84% 0%

Age

According to a 2005 estimate, the average age in the city was 38.7 years, distributed as follows: 51,783 inhabitants of pre-productive age (0–14), 12.1%; 281,403 of productive age (15–59), 65.6%; and 92,273 of post-productive age (55+ for females, 60+ for males), 21.5%.[1]

Religion

The 2001 census recorded 243,048 Roman Catholics (56.7%), 125,729 Atheists (29.3%), 24,810 Augsburg Confessional Lutherans (6%), 3,163 Greek Catholics (0.7%), 1,918 Reformed Christians, 1,827 Jehovah's Witnesses, 1,616 Eastern Orthodox, 737 Methodist Protestants, 748 Jews, and 613 Baptists.[1][8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Urban Bratislava". Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. December 31, 2005. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
  2. 1 2 "POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS 2001 - Tab. 3a". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2007-07-04. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
  3. SLOVAKIA: urban population
  4. Lacika, "Bratislava", p. 36
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Peter Salner (2001). "Ethnic polarisation in an ethnically homogeneous town" (PDF). Czech Sociological Review. 9 (2): 235–246.
  6. Lacika, "Bratislava", p. 43
  7. 1 2 "History - Post-war Bratislava". City of Bratislava. 2005. Retrieved May 15, 2007.
  8. "POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS 2001 - Tab. 4a". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2007-07-04. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
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