Demographic history of Serbia
This article presents the demographic history of Serbia through census results. See Demographics of Serbia for a more detailed overview of the current demographics from 2011 census.
Censuses
Censuses in Serbia ordinarily takes place every 10 years, organized by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. The last census was in 2011. The censuses were organized in 2011, 2002, 1991, 1981, 1971, 1961, 1953 and 1948, during Communist Yugoslavia. During the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, censuses were conducted in 1931 and 1921; the census in 1941 was never conducted due to the outbreak of WWII.
The independent Principality of Serbia, had conducted the first population census in 1834; the subsequent censuses were conducted in 1841, 1843, 1846, 1850, 1854, 1859, 1863 and 1866 and 1874. During the era Kingdom of Serbia, six censuses were conducted in 1884, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1905 and the last one being in 1910.
Medieval Serbia
- According to Dušan's Code, the legal code of Emperor Stefan Dušan, the people of the Serbian Empire were Serbs, Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs and Saxons.
Modern Serbia
The years after the Serbian Revolution saw frequent border changes of Serbia amidst the disintegration of the Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
1834 census
- TOTAL = 678,192
1841 census
- TOTAL = 828,895
1843 census
- TOTAL = 859,545
1846 census
- TOTAL = 915,080
1850 census
- TOTAL = 956,893
1854 census
- TOTAL = 998,919
1859 census
- TOTAL = 1,078,281
1863 census
- TOTAL = 1,108,668
1866 census
- TOTAL = 1,216,219[1]
- Serbs = 1,058,189 (87.01%)
- Romanians (Vlachs) = 127,545 (10.49%)
- Roma (Gypsies) = 24,607 (2.02%)
- Germans = 2,589 (0.21%)
- other = 3,256 (0.27%)
1878 census
- TOTAL = 1,669,337[2]
1895 census
- TOTAL = 2,493,770[2]
- Serbs = over 2 Mill. (ca. 90%)
- Romanians (Vlachs) = 159,000 (6.43%)
- Roma (Gipsies) = 46,000 (1.84%)
1910 census
- TOTAL = 2,922,258
1921 census (excluding Vojvodina, including Kosovo and Macedonia)
- TOTAL = 4,133,478
- Serbs and Croats = 3,339,369 (80.87%)
- Albanians = 420,473 (10.17%)
- Vlachs = 159,549 (3.86%)
- Turks = 149,210 (3.61%)
- Germans = 5,969
- Russians = 4,176
- Slovenes = 3,625
- Czechs and Slovaks = 2,801
- Hungarians = 2,532
- French = 717
- Italians = 503
- Poles = 286
- English = 231
- Ruthenians = 35
- other (mostly Romani) = 44,002
1948 census
- TOTAL = 6,527,966
- Serbs = 4,823,730 (73.89%)
- Albanians = 532,011 (8.15%)
- Hungarians = 433,701 (6.64%)
- Croats = 169,864 (2.60%)
- Montenegrins = 74,860 (1.15%)
- Slovaks = 72,032 (1.1%)
- Bulgarians = 59,395
- Roma = 52,181
- Slovenes = 20,998
- Macedonians = 17,917
- Muslims by nationality = 17,315
1953 census
- TOTAL = 6,979,154
- Serbs = 5,152,939 (73.83%)
- Albanians = 565,513 (8.10%)
- Hungarians = 441,907 (6.33%)
- Croats = 173,246 (2.48%)
- Montenegrins = 86,061 (1.23%)
- Muslims by nationality = 81,081 (1.16%)
- Slovaks = 71,153 (1%)
- Bulgarians = 60,146
- Roma = 58,800
- Macedonians = 27,277
- Slovenes = 20,717
1961 census
- TOTAL = 7,642,227
- Serbs = 5,704,686 (74.65%)
- Albanians = 699,772 (9.16%)
- Hungarians = 449,587 (5.88%)
- Croats = 196,409 (2.57%)
- Montenegrins = 104,753 (1.37%)
- Muslims by nationality = 93,467 (1.22%)
- Slovaks = 73,830
- Bulgarians = 58,243
- Macedonians = 36,288
- Yugoslavs = 20,079
- Slovenes = 19,957
- Roma = 9,826
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1961.
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1961.
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Share of Serbs in Serbia by municipalities 1961.
1971 census
- TOTAL = 8,446,591
- Serbs = 6,016,811 (71.23%)
- Albanians = 984,761 (11.66%)
- Hungarians = 430,314 (5.10%)
- Croats = 184,913 (2.19%)
- Muslims by nationality = 154,330 (1.83%)
- Montenegrins = 125,260 (1.48%)
- Yugoslavs = 123,824 (1.47%)
- Slovaks = 76,733
- Romanians = 57,419
- Bulgarians = 53,536
- Roma = 49,894
- Macedonians = 42,675
- Rusyns = 20,608
- Turks = 18,220
- Slovenes = 15,957
- Vlachs = 14,724
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1971.
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1971.
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Share of Serbs in Serbia by municipalities 1971.
1981 census
- TOTAL = 9,313,677
- Serbs = 6,182,159 (66.38%)
- Albanians = 1,303,032 (13.99%)
- Yugoslavs = 441,941 (4.75%)
- Hungarians = 390,468 (4.19%)
- Muslims by nationality = 215,166 (2.31%)
- Croats = 149,368 (1.60%)
- Montenegrins = 147,466 (1.58%)
- Roma = 110,956 (1.19%)
- Slovaks = 69,549
- Macedonians = 48,986
- Bulgarians = 33,294
- Slovenes = 12,006
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1981.
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1981.
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Share of Serbs in Serbia by municipalities 1981.
1991 census
- TOTAL (official estimation) = 9,778,991 (registered 8,182,141)
- Serbs = 6,446,595 (65.92%)
- Albanians (official estimation) = 1,674,353 (17.12%), registered 87,372
- Hungarians = 343,800 (3.52%)
- Yugoslavs = 323,643 (3.31%)
- Muslims by nationality (official estimation) = 246,411 (2.52%), registered 237,980
- Roma (official estimation) = 140,237 (1.43%), registered 138,799
- Montenegrins = 139,299 (1.42%)
- Croats = 105,406 (1.08%)
Estimated population:
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1991.
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1991.
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Share of Serbs in Serbia by municipalities 1991.
Registered population:
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1991.
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1991.
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Share of Serbs in Serbia by municipalities 1991.
1991 census (excluding Kosovo)
- TOTAL = 7,822,795
- Serbs = 6,252,405 (79.93%)
- Hungarians = 343,800 (4.39%)
- Yugoslavs = 320,186 (4.09%)
- Muslims by nationality = 180,222 (2.3%)
- Montenegrins = 118,934 (1.52%)
- Croats = 97,344 (1.24%)
- Roma = 94,491 (1.21%)
- Albanians = 78,281 (1%)
- Slovaks = 66,772 (0.85%)
- Macedonians = 45,068 (0.58%)
- Romanians = 42,316 (0.54%)
- Bulgarians = 26,698 (0.34%)
- Bunjevci = 21,434 (0.34%)
- Ukrainians = 18,052 (0.23%)
- Vlachs = 17,804 (0.23%)
- others = 34,698 (0.44%)
- regional affiliation = 4,841 (0.06%)
- unknown = 47,949 (0.61%)
- unspecified = 10,538 (0.13%)
2002 census (excluding Kosovo)
- TOTAL = 7,498,001
- Serbs = 6,212,838 (82.86%)
- Hungarians = 293,299 (3.91%)
- Bosniaks = 136,087 (1.82%)
- Roma = 108,193 (1.44%)
- Yugoslavs = 80,721 (1.08%)
- Croats = 70,602 (0.94%)
- Montenegrins = 69,049 (0.92%)
- Albanians = 61,647 (0.82%)
- Slovaks = 59,021 (0.79%)
- Vlachs = 40,054 (0.53%)
- Romanians = 34,576 (0.46%)
- Macedonians = 25,847 (0.35%)
- Bulgarians = 20,497 (0.27%)
- Bunjevci = 20,012 (0.27%)
- Muslims = 19,503 (0.26%)
- Rusyns = 15,905 (0.21%)
- Ukrainians = 5,354 (0.07%)
- Slovenes = 5,104
- Gorani = 4,581
- Germans = 3,901
- Czechs = 2,211
- others = 11,711 (0.19%)
- regional affiliation = 11,485 (0.15%)
- unknown = 75,483 (1.01%)
- unspecified = 107,732 (1.44%)
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 2002.
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 2002.
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Share of Serbs in Serbia by municipalities 2002.
2011 census (excluding Kosovo)
- TOTAL = 7,186,862
- Serbs = 5,988,150 (83.32%)
- Hungarians = 253,899 (3.53%)
- Roma = 147,604 (2.05%)
- Bosniaks = 145,278 (2.02%)
- Croats = 57,900 (0.81%)
- Slovaks = 52,750 (0.73%)
- Albanians = 5,809 (0.08%) (mostly boycotted the census, estimate c. 50,000 i.e. 0.7%)
- Montenegrins = 38,527 (0.54%)
- Vlachs = 35,330 (0.49%)
- Romanians = 29,332 (0.41%)
- Yugoslavs = 23,303 (0.32%)
- Macedonians = 22,755 (0.32%)
- Muslims = 22,301 (0.31%)
- Bulgarians = 18,543 (0.26%)
- Bunjevci = 16,706 (0.23%)
- Rusyns = 14,246 (0.2%)
- Gorani = 7,767 (0.11%)
- Ukrainians = 4,903 (0.07%)
- Germans = 4,064 (0.06%)
- Slovenes = 4,033 (0.06%)
- others = 17,558 (0.24%)
- regional affiliation = 30,771 (0.43%)
- unknown = 81,740 (1.14%)
- unspecified = 160,346 (2.23%)
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 2011.
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Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 2011.
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Share of Serbs in Serbia by municipalities 2011.
See also
References
Sources
- Pavlović, Mirjana; Prelić, Mladena (2015). "The state, statistics, minorities and power: Ethnic "others" in the Duchy and Kingdom of Serbia as viewed through the lens of national census". Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU. 63 (1): 147–165. doi:10.2298/GEI1501147P.
- Barjaktarović, Mirko (1970). Zečević, Slobodan, ed. "O etničkom opredeljenju". Гласник Етнографског музеја у Београду. Etnografski muzej u Beogradu. 33: 69–92. GGKEY:PXCNL8YTPDP.