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 2002 census.

Middle Ages

1349

Serbian Empire ~1350

---

note that Serbia at the time included whole Albania, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, two thirds of Greece and smaller parts of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

According to Dušan's Code, the legal code of the Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks Dušan the Mighty, the people of the Serbian Empire were:

People 1349
Serbs
Greeks
Arbanasi (Albanians) (mostly in Albania and some in Thessaly)
Vlachs
Saxons (Germanics) (mostly in miners' settlements)

1834-1863

The years after the Serbian Revolution saw frequent border changes of Serbia amidst the disintegration of the Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

Total population:

• 1834: 678,192
• 1841: 828,895
• 1843: 859,545
• 1846: 915,080
• 1850: 956,893
• 1854: 998,919
• 1859: 1,078.281
• 1863: 1,108.668

1866 census in Serbia

• 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 in Serbia

• TOTAL = 1,669,337^[2]

1895 census in Serbia

• TOTAL = 2,493,770^[2]
• Serbs = over 2 Mill. (ca. 90%)
• Romanians (Vlachs) = 159,000 (6.43%)
• Roma (Gipsies) = 46,000 (1.84%)

1921 census in Serbia

The 1921 census in Serbia (without Vojvodina, but 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 Roma) = 44,002

1948 census in Serbia

• 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%)
• Roma = 52,181
• Slovenes = 20,998
• Macedonians = 17,917
• Muslims by nationality = 17,315

1953 census in Serbia

• 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%)
• Roma = 58,800
• Macedonians = 27,277
• Slovenes = 20,717

1961 census in Serbia

• 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%)
• Macedonians = 36,288
• Yugoslavs = 20,079
• Slovenes = 19,957
• Roma = 9,826

1971 census in Serbia

• 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 = 53,800
• Roma = 49,894
• Macedonians = 42,675
• Rusyns = 20,608
• Turks = 18,220
• Slovenes = 15,957
• Vlachs = 14,724

• 

  Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1971.

1981 census in Serbia

• 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%)
• Macedonians = 48,986
• Slovenes = 12,006

• 

  Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1981.

1991 census in Serbia (including Kosovo)

• 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%)

• 

  Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1991.

• 

  Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 1991.

1991 census in Serbia (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%)
• unspecified = 10,538 (0.13%)
• regional affiliation = 4,841 (0.06%)
• unknown = 47,949 (0.61%)

2002 census in Serbia (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%)
• Romanians (total) = 74,630 (0.74%), declared particularly as:
  • 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%)
• unspecified = 107,732 (1.44%)
• regional affiliation = 11,485 (0.15%)
• unknown = 75,483 (1.01%)

2011 census in Serbia (excluding Kosovo)

The 2011 census will give its results on October 15, 2011.^[3]

• 

  Ethnic structure of Serbia by settlements 2002.

• 

  Ethnic structure of Serbia by municipalities 2002.

• 

  Ethnic map of Serbia based on the 2002 census municipality data for Central Serbia and Vojvodina and 1991 census municipality data for Kosovo.

Ethnic maps of the territory of present-day Serbia

• 

  Ethnic map of the territory of present-day Serbia and neighbouring areas in the 6th-8th century, according to the historical atlas for schools, published in Belgrade in 1970, representing a view of Yugoslav historians from that time.

• 

  Ethnic map of Eastern Serbia based on the 1866 census

    (no colour): Serbians

  
  

    Romanians (Vlachs)

  
  

    Bulgarians
• 

  Ethnic map of the territory of present-day Serbia (1867)

• 

  Ethnic map of the territory of present-day Serbia (1868)

• 

  Ethnic map of the territory of present-day Serbia (1880)

• 

  Ethnic map from 1918 by nationalist Serbian author Jovan Cvijic^[4][5]

References

1. ^ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geographisches_Handbuch_zu_Andrees_Handatlas_1882_about_Serbia.JPG
2. ^ ^{a b} http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geographisches_Handbuch_zu_Andrees_Handatlas_1902_about_Serbia.JPG
3. ^ Population census begins in Serbia
4. ^ Cartography in Central and Eastern Europe: Selected Papers of the 1st ICA Symposium on Cartography for Central and Eastern Europe; Georg Gartner, Felix Ortag; 2010; p.338
5. ^ [http://www.hic.hr/books/greatserbia/cvijic.htm

See also

• Demographics of Serbia - current demographics
• Demographic history of Vojvodina
• Demographic history of Kosovo
• Ethnic groups of Vojvodina