Worrying data from the census: No inhabitants in 74 villages

304 villages in Montenegro have ten or fewer inhabitants, and 74 no longer have any inhabitants, according to data from the Monstat Statistics Administration from the census completed in December.

In the previous census from 2011, as reported to "Vijesta" from Monstat, there were 120 villages with 10 or fewer inhabitants, of which 43 had no permanent residents.

Most of the abandoned villages are in the territory of Cetinje - 16 are uninhabited, and 42 villages have from one to ten inhabitants. In the 2011 census, there were 43 villages in Prijestonica with ten or fewer inhabitants, and at that time no one lived in eight.

Now no one lives permanently in the Cetinje villages of Đalci, Dubovo, Dujeva, Gađi, Lješev Stub, Majstori, Malošin Do, Mikulići, Pejovići, Poda, Prekornica, Proseni Do, Tomići, Uba, Vojkovići and Žanjev Do.

Enumerators in these villages only counted abandoned houses or those where someone sometimes comes. So there are 45 houses in Prekornica, 29 in Mikulići, 21 in Dubovo...

Historic Čevo, the center of Katunska nahija, fell in this census to only ten inhabitants in eight households. According to the first census after the Second World War in 1948, 424 inhabitants lived in this place.

The largest village in Cetinje is Bajice with 777 registered inhabitants.

According to Monstat's methodology, there are settlements in urban (city) and other (rural) environments. They told "Vijesta" that they currently do not have data on the number of residents living in urban and rural settlements, that is, that data has not yet been collected.

There are also abandoned villages on the coast. In the municipality of Bar, eight villages remained without inhabitants - Dedići, Gornja Poda, Gurza, Lukići, Mali Mikulići, Marstjepovići, Sozina and Turčini, and 14 more have less than ten inhabitants.

Budva has six villages without inhabitants - Čami Do, Čučuci, Dapkovići, Grabovica, Kamenovo and Sveti Nikola, and 14 with less than ten inhabitants. This municipality is specific in that it has settlements with a significantly higher number of housing units than residents and households, so in the town of Zavala there are 76 people living in 30 households and they have 343 apartments.

Ulcinj has three villages without inhabitants - Međreč, Možura and Salč, as well as one with fewer than ten inhabitants, Kaliman.

Tivat has no villages without inhabitants, and only one with less than ten inhabitants - Gornja Lastva. Even the municipality of Herzegnov has no villages without inhabitants, and only two have less than ten - Ubli and Žljebi.

In the municipality of Kotor, there are 11 villages without inhabitants - Čavori, Han, Knež do, Mali Zalazi, Malov Do, Pištet, Trešnjica, Ukropci, Unijerina, Veliki Zalazi and Zvečava, as well as eight with less than ten.

There are no uninhabited villages in Zeta, and the smallest is Gostilj with 76 inhabitants. In Tuzi, only in Prifta, no one lives, while in two other villages, Nikmaraš and Zatrijepč, there are less than ten inhabitants.

The capital Podgorica has four villages where no one lives permanently - Gornje Stravče, Lutovo, Seoca and Stupovi, while 22 have less than ten inhabitants.

Danilovgrad has seven empty villages - Brijestovo, Dolovi, Gornji Rsojevići, Krivače, Međeđe one, Međeđe two and Rova, as well as 14 with less than ten inhabitants. The village of Studeno, a well-known excursion destination, has less than ten households that live there permanently, and the enumerators counted 172 housing units.

Nikšić has four villages without inhabitants - Bogmilovići, Gradačka Poljana, Gvozd and Međeđe, while there are 25 with less than ten.

In Kolašin, only the village of Izlasci remained without inhabitants, and 17 of them have less than ten.

In Berane, Velidje has no inhabitants, and two other villages have less than ten - Vuča and Zagrad. Plav has no villages without inhabitants, and only Babino Polje has less than ten inhabitants. The situation is similar in Rožaje, and Zaglavlje has less than ten inhabitants.

Even in Bijelo Polje, according to the census, all villages are inhabited, and only Ujnice has less than ten inhabitants.

In Pljevlja there are eight villages without inhabitants - Burići, Durutovići, Kotlajići, Magžari, Moćevići, Plakala, Tatarovina and Vukšići, while there are as many as 31 with less than ten inhabitants.

Žabljak has two empty villages - Dobri Nugo and Gomile, and four with less than ten inhabitants. Mala Crna Gora, which is considered the most isolated village in Montenegro, had seven households with a total of 13 inhabitants, but also 106 housing units.

Plužine has two villages without inhabitants, Jerinića and Poljana, as well as 11 with less than ten inhabitants. The smallest Montenegrin municipality, Šavnik, has no uninhabited villages, and Provalija is the only one with less than ten inhabitants.

Mojkovac, Andrijevica, Petnjica and Gusinje officially have no deserted villages or villages with fewer than ten inhabitants.

Municipalities decided on the boundaries of settlements, united several villages into one

What is a city and what is a rural settlement is defined by the decisions of the municipalities. Local self-governments can change the boundaries of settlements, merge several villages into one settlement, or turn villages near the city into urban settlements by decision. So it is possible that there are even more villages without inhabitants, but the census did not recognize them as separate settlements due to municipal decisions.

Some of such examples are that the Municipality of Herceg Novi administratively united all the villages in its part of the Luštica peninsula into one settlement "Luštica", although there are separate villages Klinci, Rose, Merdari, Eraci, Mrkovi,... so they do not exist for them separate data only for "Luštica", which has 231 inhabitants.

By its decision, Mojkovac united several villages into one geographical and census entity, so that this underdeveloped municipality has a total of 15 urban and rural settlements, none of which are uninhabited. So Dobrilovina with 45 inhabitants is the smallest village in this municipality.

They did the same in Gusinje, which now officially has nine inhabited places, the smallest being Višnjevo with 66 inhabitants. There are no uninhabited villages in Andrijevica either, and the smallest are Kuti and Slatina with 20 inhabitants each.

On the territory of the capital city, many former villages have become urban settlements and their population is counted in the populated place "Podgorica". For example, Donja Gorica is a statistical part of Podgorica, and neighboring Farmaci is a separate village with 522 inhabitants.

"According to the Law on Territorial Organization of Montenegro, the territory of Montenegro is divided into local self-government units, which, in accordance with the same Law as well as special decisions of the municipality, defined settlements. Therefore, local self-government units are responsible for settlements and their borders, and all questions related to settlements should be addressed to them. "For the purposes of preparing and organizing the census, as well as reporting the results, the Directorate of Statistics cooperates with local self-government units on the issue of respect for settlement boundaries when creating a spatial register in accordance with the available reports on settlement boundaries," they stated from Monstat when asked by "Vijesti" who defined settlement boundaries and whether in some municipalities local communities with several villages were enumerated and not individual villages.

Two interchanges from the highway for one hundred inhabitants

During the construction of the first section of the highway Podgorica - Mateševo, two loops were made to the villages of Pelev Brijeg, Lijeva Rijeka and Veruša.

Data from the census show that six households with a total of 15 inhabitants live in Pelevo Brijeg, 21 inhabitants in 10 households in Lijeva Rijeka, and 13 inhabitants in six households in Veruša.

With other nearby villages, this area, for which three interchanges have been built and access roads should be built, has about one hundred permanent residents.

These villages with nearby katuns and picnic areas have yet to be developed in order for the state's investment in interchanges and future access roads to make sense. The enumerators counted 417 housing units in Veruša, 63 in Lijeva Rijeka, and 15 in Pelevo Brijeg.