Despite its strategic place and role in Europe , the Balkans is a region whose demography – in the broad sense of the term – has attracted relatively little attention. It is also a region where changes in the last twenty years have been so profound that all aspects of its environment have been radically affected.

In Europe, and among the international community as a whole, there is a real need for knowledge on issues such as population distribution and dynamics in the Balkan region, the demography of ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, migration potential or the impact of deteriorating health and social conditions on life expectancy.

In the effort to fill this knowledge gap, eight demographers - Kiril Donkov (Bulgaria), Vasile Ghetau (Romania), Radu Halus (Romania), Byron Kotzamanis (Greece), Snjezana Mrdjen (Croatia), Alain Parant (France), Goran Penev (Yugoslavia) and Jean-Paul Sardon (France) - decided to form a network in 1996 named DemoBalk, i.e. Demography of the Balkans. Read more on the development of the network at DEMOBALK.