Geographia Polonica (1999) vol. 72, iss. 1

Ethnic minorities in Central-Eastern Europe

Piotr Eberhardt

Geographia Polonica (1999) vol. 72, iss. 1, pp. 125-142 | Full text

Abstract

This article presents the demographic and ethnic situation of Central and Eastern Europe. For geographical, political and ethnic reasons the region was split up into five separate groups, namely:

• the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kaliningrad district),
• Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia,
• Belarus and Ukraine,
• Hungary, Romania and Moldova,
• Balkan countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Macedonia),
• Bulgaria and Albania.

The article discusses the abundance and spatial distribution of ethnic minorities living in the region. Its aim is to show the political consequences of intricate ethnic structure.

Keywords: ethnic structure, minorities, Central-Eastern Europe

Piotr Eberhardt [p.ebe@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland