Hypsometric demography of Kosovo: the distribution of Kosovo population by altitude

Abstract

This paper attempt to analyze how population dynamics changed in Kosovo through altitude and time. Altitude is one of the fundamental physiographic factor that determine the vertical distribution of human activities on earth. Altitude also determine the availability of natural resources because by increasing altitude somehow decreases the total surface of land available for agriculture, development and as well as increases the environmental constrains and restrictions in the use of land due to the topography, environmental regulations and policies. In order to concrete the research, Kosovo territory is zoned vertically into six hypsometric levels. Using digital Elevation Model for Kosovo the hypsometric zones are as follows: <500; 500–750; 750–1000; 1000–1250; 1250–1500 and >1500 m. Also, population changes are analyzed through six population censuses realized in Kosovo after the second WW, starting from 1948, 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981 and 2011. The basic analyzed unit is settlement as a centroid.