Demography of Vassfforcia

From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search

The size of the Vassfforcian population is around 170 million and is increasing by 1.0 3% per year (as of 2005). Vassfforcia is mainly an urban country with around 76% of the population living in communities of more than 10 thousand people.

Vassfforcia has two official languages at the federal level, Spanish and Hyarmendorean, but there are also many minorities languages which are also considered official in the region, Catalonian in large areas of Umperia, Vilnia and Montaura, Occitan in Tirritidivá and various other dialects of French in Hilvenídica and Plenfia. Hyarmendorean is mainly spoken in Hilvenídica, Dohendor and Rhûnorodtal.


Ethnicity

<div" class="plainlinksneverexpand">idiomasxm1.png
Languages Spoken in Vassfforcia
ORANGE: Catalan
YELLOW: Spanish
GREEN: Hyarmendorean
BLUE: French and related dialects
PINK: Occitan
Red spots mark places in which every National Language is spoken.
White dots denote areas in which a non-National Language is spoken, these are German in Plenfia and Hilvenídica and Breen in Dohendor and Umperia
</div>

Ethnically most Vassffocians are Hispanics (Bas Forsians or Gwymáliad), Dohen and Hälven; hence the country’s motto “three peoples, one nation”, as the Vassfforcian federation is conceived as a union of these three peoples. In recent years immigration has grown, mainly because of the civil war in the Breenonia. As of 1 January 2005 about 2 million Breen had entered to Vassfforcia, mainly to the big cities in the north. However, according to genetics, most Vassfforcians (96%) are of Caucasian race, and descendants of people from southwestern Europe.

the Bas Forsians

The Bas Forsians or Gwymáliad (140 million) are the descendants of the Hispanic invaders and immigrants who came to Alcedonia since the 12th century, and of the Cathar and Huguenot immigrations of the 13th and 16th centuries respectively which came, mainly, to the Queendom of Hälvendil. They speak Spanish, Catalan, French and Occitan.

the Hälven

The Hälven (7 million) are, as the Dohen, descendants of the Celtic people who invaded and conquered northeastern Alcedonia, the Gáltad. They arrived to the north around year 500 b. C. and nearly destroyed the original population (supposedly related to the modern Dashani people). However, the Bas Forsians did the same to them, though they weren’t as successful and the Gáltad survived in Dohendor and Hälvendil. Those who consider themselves Hälven today (it is more a cultural than an ethnic distinction between the Dohen and the Hälven) are those who were born in Hilvenídica and Plenfia and speak the Hälven and the Plenfian dialects of Hyarmendorean. Many also speak Hyarmeñol (especially in southern Hilvenídica) and French (near Plenfia).

the Dohen

The Dohen (17 million) are descendants of the Celtic people who invaded and conquered northeastern Alcedonia, the Gáltad. Today, those who consider themselves Dohen are those who were born in Autonomous Republic of Dohendor (i.e. Dohendor and Rhûnorod) and speak the Dohen and the Western dialects of Hyarmendorean.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy in Vassfforcia is extremely high and currently stands at an average of about 86 years. Vassfforcian health care is nearly completely in government hands, thus maintains very high standards of cleanliness and safety and every Vassfforcian has access to it. Health care for foreign visitors is free in emergency situations or with proper travel insurance coverage (with approved supplementary documentation), otherwise, they have to pay the cost for services unless they are legal residents.

Sex and gender

Vassfforcia has 1.0052 females to every male on average. However, the amount of girls born has been exceeding this proportion and it is expected that by 2010 there will be 1.009 females for every male. A reversal of the current situation would then most likely occur between 2018 and 2020.

Same-sex marriages were legalized in 2006 as contracts of cohabitation not only for same-sex people living together, but for anyone. For example, if two adults, a nephew and his uncle live together for any reason (she became orphaned and still lives with him, she cares for him, etc) they may subscribe this contract thus both get heritage and the decision rights in case one is in the hospital. However, this does not give people subscribing such a contract rights to adopt children. The Roman Catholic Church, the Cathars, the Muslim and some Huguenots critiqued the decision. Thus this does not provide gay couples with the same rights as heterosexuals and sanctions them to marry within a place of worship.

Sex change and sexual preferences are not taken into account in the census, but according to NGOs there are in Vassfforcia about 1 million homo- and bisexuals and about 120 thousand sex-changes

Urban-rural distribution and socioeconomic strata

<div" class="plainlinksneverexpand">demografiazj6.png
Population density
</div>

76% of Vassfforcians live in areas classified as urban (communities of 10’000 people or more). The remainder lives in transition or rural areas. Cathars live mainly in communities which are not big enough to be ranked as urban along the Tirritidivan and Filibustenian coast and live of tourism, fishing and agriculture. Plenfia and Hilvenídica are mainly rural states, where people own large extensions of land where they breed cattle and produce some of the finest wines. In the northeast (with the exception of northern Monatura and southern Filibustenia) most people work providing services or in the large factories. Most communities are actually built around a factory from which the whole town depends; but, as no community is farther than 15 or 20 minutes from the next one (and another factory) firms keep competing for the workers thus salaries are kept high. In the Autonomous Republic of Dohendor most people live in the large cities from providing services (especially for tourists) and the industry, but small to medium farms are also common. Breen immigrants have mostly settled in the northern cities, namely Istania, Andorcia, Vassfforcia City and the heavily industrialized northeast.

Most Vassfforcian cities were built without any kind of beforehand plans, the old borough are Medieval, Renaissance or Baroque or an eclectic mix of all those styles with more modern ones. However, newer boroughs are always planned beforehand and are designed according to the Renaissance model of a grid with diagonals. Every city has large parks and green areas in their new boroughs and most of them also have huge skyscrapers there. Every city over 500 thousand people (i.e. Puerto Nuevo, Prubdablia, Vassfforcia City, Silaldia, Zulfía, Filibustenia, Dohendor City, Tirritidivá City, Andorcia and Istania) has a subway service and an urban highway system (mostly underground in downtown). The TRAPUNE is an enormous public transportation system of subways and suburban trains for the industrialized northeast that communicates the cities of Silaldia and Zulfía and all that heavily industrialized towns in the region.

Religion

Cathedral of Montaura

Vassfforcia used to be a country in which Catholicism was the only religion allowed until 1602, when the Treaty of Hilvenídica made the Queendom of Hälvendil part of the Most Serene Republic Vassfforcia, and as religious tolerance existed in Hälvendil, it was made extensive to all the Most Serene Republic; thus the Dominican order and the Inquisition were expelled form Vassfforcia. This made more Protestants come to the country among people from many other faiths and prevented the wars of religion which devastated many other countries.

Today approximately 75% of Vassfforcia’s inhabitants are Catholic, however, these numbers might not reflect actual faith of the population as Vassfforcians are not renowned for being extremely pious. The Christian rites of passage such as baptism, marriage and burial have a strong traditional standing in Vassfforcia, and many people are members to be able to use these ceremonies in spite of not being regular churchgoers or believing in the teachings of the church. Moreover, the Christian calendar is still very important; Vassfforcians celebrate Christmas, have Spring break during Easter and host huge carnivals before Lent.

Other Christian denominations total about 9% (Calvinists and Cathars). Among other religions, both NeoPaganism (mainly Wicca) and Islam are the largest in Vassfforcia with around 2% each, and other religions comprise about 4% in total (including the Bahá'í Faith, Floydism, Buddhism and Judaism). Around 10% do not adhere to any established religion or are atheists.

According to the UN rankings Vassfforcia is among the least religious nations of the NS world.