摘要：In the first part of his article, the author explicates some general reasons for the process of aging of rural, particularly of agricultural population in Yugoslavia. For example, in Slavonia, East Serbia and within some ethnical groups in other regions there are for a long time s. c. "bijela kuga« (»white pestilence«), In Slovenia and Croatia, particularly in Istria, Dalmatia and Lika there is a long tradition of emigration to foreign countries, while in Kosovo and Metohia and mountainous parts of Macedonia, and Bosnia and Hercegovina there is a deeprooted tradition of seasonal »pečalba« Ctemporary employment far away from home). However, for the process of aging of agricultural population the most decisive were the consequences brought about by the industrialization of the country. First of all this has caused the large and mass spatial and socio-professional mobility of younger generatian from the coutryside, then the compulsory S-year schooling and ma~s education for other occupations have stimulated the transfer from agriculture to other branches of economy. In the second part, the author - on the basis of special demographic criteria - has selected 103 communities with 4.500 settlements where demographic indicators show that the process of aging of rural population is in full swing. For instance, the index of aging in many of these communities surpasses 0.5, and in the commune Mlnićevo it is even 1.2236. In same of these settlements every third ar fourth person is in the age of 60, which reflects a lot on economic and cultural life of these villages. In the third part the author interprets same resu Its of the survey research carried out in 726 aged households. These results point to the specific position of aged agricultural household within the social structure of rural environment. The resu Its concerning the reasons of the emergence of aged households are very interesting: 1) in more than 57.0% of the interviewed households descendants have rnigrated ar live on their own, 2) in 17.9% there were no descendants, 3) in 10.8% all descendants had died or were killed during the last world war, 4) in 9.6% descendants were under the maturity age or in schools, 5) in 4.2% of the interviewed households descendants were not able to work. Consequently, this confirms the author's thesis that the reason for a mass emergence of aged agricultural households are numerous, but the socio-professional and spatial mobility are the most decisive facto rs of the process of aging of rural, particularly agricultural population.
关键词：agricultural population; the process of aging; aged agricultural holdings
