Population
Accurate information with regard to the community’s number of residents over the years is unfortunately unavailable since a lot of data have been lost or damaged beyond repair, while all those who were able to give us at least a verbal testimony have passed away. However, cited below are some data regarding the number of residents as these appear in the “Birth and Christening records” of the Church.
Births – christenings (from August 1929 onwards)
Years |
Number of births |
1929-1930 |
17 |
1931-1940 |
103 |
1941-1950 |
86 |
1951-1960 |
76 |
1961-1970 |
67 |
1971-1980 |
52 |
1981-1990 |
55 |
1991-2000 |
74 |
2001-2006 |
16 |
Consequently, we observe that with the exception of the 1980s and the 1990s when there was a significant increase in the number of births, a period of low fertility begins as of 1930 in combination with the abandonment of the area to seek for employment, especially after the Turkish invasion. This abandonment occurred because a lot of residents used to work in Xero, Morphou and Lefka, which were occupied by the Turks and were therefore forced to leave the community to find work elsewhere. So, the long distances, the underdeveloped road network and the lack of good educational institutions, which would offer their children more opportunities to achieve their goals, led to the gradual decrease of the population as this has been recorded by the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Interior as follows:
Ages |
Number of residents in 1992 |
Number of residents in 2001 |
0-19 |
68 |
71 |
20-39 |
57 |
40 |
40-49 |
24 |
16 |
50-59 |
24 |
22 |
60-69 |
18 |
18 |
70-79 |
16 |
9 |
80 and above |
9 |
7 |
The above census reveals a slight decrease in the number of residents by 27 persons in a period of nine years. Today, Oikos has 200 residents, while out of a total of 126 residences about half of them (59) remain uninhabited or are used as country houses by their owners.
However, we cannot ignore the fact that although small in both land expanse covered and population, the community of Oikos has probably got the lowest age average in the valley of Marathasa since the majority of the residents, in contrast to other villages, are young with their ages ranging between 0 and 60 years of age.
Source:
Study conducted by the resident of Oikos, Eirini Charalambous
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