Socio-economic changes in the Rybnik conurbation (Poland) as a result of economic restructuring – a case study

The Rybnik conurbation is an example of a traditional industrial area, where, due to economic restructuring, social and economic transformations are taking place. It is located in the Silesian voivodeship (southern Poland) and its development is mostly based on intensive coal mining after the Second World War. The article presents selected aspects of social and economic transformation happening in the area of the Rybnik conurbation after 1945 and connected with its rapid economic development in the 1960s and 70s, as well as with the systematic and economic transformation in Poland after 1989. The article was prepared on the base of subject literature, statistics and own studies. Population transformations have been analysed for the period 1980-2010, in each case, in relation to selected administrative units and three zones of the conurbation - the core, the inner and the outer areas. In order to evaluate and compare the demographic situation in the Rybnik conurbation in the years 1988 and 2008, a rank method has been applied. Community classification has been based on the total value of ranks for particular communities for the following variables: birth rate, population growth, net migration rate and the participation of the population in the pre-working and post-working age. The results of population transformation indicate that until 1991, the population of the Rybnik conurbation had been increasing (up to 197.7 thousand people). In the period 1991-2012, it decreased by 26.4 thousand (i.e. by 3.8%). In the same period of time, depopulation took place in the largest mining cities of the conurbation core (Wodzisław Śląski, 56.1%, connected with its administrative division into 4 towns and 1 rural community; Jastrzębie-Zdrój - 12.3%, Żory - 7.8% and Rybnik, to a lesser degree - 2.7%). The rank method that was applied has revealed the worsened demographic condition in the western communes of the conurbation (a shift from weak to bad). Simultaneously, in the period 1990-2012, the population gradually increased in the outer zone of the conurbation, by 6.8%. This indicates the process of suburbanisation taking place in the area. Demographic and economic changes in the Rybnik conurbation after 1989, in comparison to other mining areas in Poland and in Europe, seem to be less intensive.