ALTITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION AND SETTLEMENTS IN THE CARPATHIAN MOUNTAIN SPACE. CASE STUDY: ROMANIAN CARPATHIANS

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to carry out a statistic on the altitude distribution of population and settlements in the Romanian Carpathians. These mountains are inhabited from the earliest historical periods. They offered the continuity of the Paleolithic population to the contemporary. 7 altitudes classes, respectively 56-100 m, 100-200 m, 200-300 m, 300-500 m, 500-750 m, 750-1000 m and 1,000-1,500 m were established for the achievement of the research. The data used for the study were those of the last 20th Century Census (1992) and the data of the last 21st Century Census (2011). Also, for some incursions in the explanation of demographic phenomena regarding the demographic evolution of settlements, the census of 1880, 1900 and 1930 were used. After processing data through the ArcGis 10.3 and Microsoft Excel 2013, a series of dysfunctions resulted. The Romanian Carpathians depopulated in the period 1992-2011, with about 435,000 inhabitants. All 7 elevation classes decreased demographical, with weights between 10%-27%. The majority of the population is located between 500-750 metres, which is lost to the highest numerical demographic, about 150,000 inhabitants. Under percentage ratio, the largest demographic decrease was 27% for settlements between 56-100 meters altitude. As a consequence, the space of the Romanian Carpathians faces risk demographic phenomena, such as depopulation.