Let's not count on it anymore

Author: Ezio Giuricin

The axe of the national count has fallen once again on our community. The census data on nationality and mother tongue released by the Croatian Statistical Institute - with an unspeakable delay of eight months - speak clearly: in the last decade, the members of our national group in Croatia have decreased by more than 9% (9,3).  In just over twenty years, from the comforting data of 1991 that had registered an almost exponential growth, close to 80%, we have "lost" - in terms of declarations of national belonging - 3.946 compatriots, over 16% of our national body: one compatriot in six. In the last decade, more than 1800 compatriots have disappeared into the depths of statistical records: the equivalent - always referring to declared Italians - of a large association (such as Umag or Rovinj). The only consolation we have is the fact - not very comforting in itself - that almost all other minorities in Croatia have suffered even more significant decreases (Serbs 12%, Hungarians 15%, Slovenes 20%, with the exception of Roma and Albanians, who have instead grown significantly). The data relating to the mother tongue are in line, as regards the percentages of decrease, with those on nationality, with a minus 9,49% compared to the previous decade (in 2001 we had instead recorded a decrease, compared to 1991, of 22%). But as always happens in the statistical field, the "devil" is in the details; that is, in the reading of data concerning individual locations and in the complex social and territorial composition of our presence. The region with the greatest numerical decline is Istria: the one that should constitute the "hard core" of our community fabric, with a 12% decrease. The Buiese area - which has always been a true "bulwark" of our historical presence and of our numerical consistency - has recorded very high declines in some locations (Buie 20%, Umag 17%, Cittanova 13%). The record for the largest decrease in Italians goes to Poreč, with a sad 26%. It basically holds Rovinj. Cities such as Rijeka and Pula show a more modest decline, from 10 to 11%. However, the much more limited decline felt at the level of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar Region needs to be studied, where the "loss" of declared Italians was contained, despite the decline in Rijeka, to just over 3% (thanks, in part, to the increase in Italians recorded in Lussino and Abbazia). Now it is up to the leaders of our associative structures to carefully analyze the causes and reasons for this decline. Among the mechanisms that may partly justify the decrease is the substantial change in the methodological criteria used in the 2011 census compared to the previous ones: for the first time the criterion of "habitual residence" was adopted (as in Slovenia in 2002): that is, the presence of many of our fellow countrymen who were not "de facto" residents for reasons of work and study was not detected. But it is certainly now a question of starting a serious comparison and investigation into the roots of this disappointing "statistical evidence". With a fundamental premise. We must definitively free ourselves from the blackmail of periodic "national counts", also in consideration of their questionable scientific and sociological reliability. In Slovenia, fortunately, last year the traditional "national" census was abandoned, in favor of the less expensive "register" census, which for the first time did not include sensitive data on nationality, religion or language. But that probably won't be enough. From the survey of the number of compatriots, or the merely quantitative aspect of our community, we must try to move on to constant and more in-depth investigations on the quality, structure, social composition, sociological, economic and behavioral characteristics of the members of the national group; we must try to understand the mechanisms that influence the affirmation of national identity and consciousness in order to outline projects and serious development strategies for our minority dimension. National minorities should not be counted, but rather studied and analyzed, in order to understand their particular problems and needs, and consequently define the tools to ensure their development. In our opinion, these studies should be entrusted first and foremost to minorities, offering them the tools to understand and know themselves, carrying out a constant self-diagnosis operation. We will have to try to counter the weight of the censuses with our ability to understand who we are and to define clear growth prospects. To prevent numbers from continuing to decide our future.