Demographics of Serbia

Demographics of Serbia
Population	7 106 862 (2015)
Growth rate	−4.9 per 1,000 pop. (2014)
Birth rate	9.4 per 1,000 pop. (2014)
Death rate	14.3 per 1,000 pop. (2014)
Life expectancy	74.2 years (2011)^[1]
• male	71.6 years
• female	76.8 years
Fertility rate	1.47 children born/woman (2014)^[2]
Infant mortality rate	6.3 deaths/1,000 infants (2011)
Net migration rate	-1.6 migrant(s)/1,000 pop. (2011)
Age structure
0–14 years	14.3% (2011)^[3]
15–64 years	68.3% (2011)^[4]
65 and over	17.4% (2011)^[5]
Sex ratio
At birth	1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.06 male(s)/female
15–64 years	0.99 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.72 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	noun: Serbian(s) adjective: Serbian
Major ethnic	Serbs (83.3%) (2011)
Minor ethnic	Hungarians (3.5%) Roma (2.1%) Bosniaks (2%) other minorities less than 1% respectively
Language
Official	Serbian at national level; Hungarian, Bosnian, Croatian, Slovakian, Albanian, Romanian and Rusyn are in official use in individual municipalities
Spoken	Serbian (88%); Hungarian (3.4%) Bosnian (1.9%) Romani (1.4%) other minority languages less than 1% respectively

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Serbia, including vital statistics, ethnicity, religious affiliations, education level, health of the populace and other aspects of the population.

Demographic history 1
Projections 2
Vital Statistics 3
- 1880–1887 3.1
- 1900–1912 3.2
- 1950–2014 3.3
Ethnic groups 4
Religion 5
Languages 6
Education 7
Health 8
See also 9
References 10

Demographic history

Censuses in Serbia ordinarily takes place every 10 years, organized by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. The 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. 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. Socialist Yugoslavia conducted censuses in 1948, 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, and 1991. The two most recent censuses were held in 2002 and 2011.

The years since the first 1834 Census saw frequent border changes of Serbia, first amidst the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary, then subsequent formation and later disintegration of Yugoslavia and, finally, recent self-proclaimed independence of Kosovo which affected territorial scope in which all these censuse have been conducted.

Projections

Source:^[6]

The following forecast for the future population is an official estimate of the National Statistical Institute of Serbia.

Year	Population
2015	7,106,862
2020	6,950,753
2030	6,815,036
2040	6,830,010
2050
2060

Vital Statistics

1880–1887

Source:^[7]

	Average population (x 1,000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1,000)	Crude death rate (per 1,000)	Natural change (per 1,000)
1880	1,738	70,167	54,243	15,924	40.4	31.2	9.2
1881	1,775	80,678	43,645	37,033	45.4	24.6	20.8
1882	1,814	80,274	41,648	38,626	44.3	23.0	21.3
1883	1,859	87,161	42,263	44,898	46.7	22.7	24.0
1884	1,902	90,441	47,552	42,889	47.6	25.0	22.6
1885	1,940	90,627	52,318	38,309	46.7	27.0	19.7
1886	1,965	83,091	58,525	24,566	42.3	29.7	12.6
1887	2,008	93,911	50,481	43,430	46.8	25.1	21.7

1900–1912

Source:^[8]

	Average population (x 1,000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1,000)	Crude death rate (per 1,000)	Natural change (per 1,000)
1900	2,470	105,000	58,000	47,000	42.4	23.5	18.9
1901	2,520	96,000	53,000	43,000	38.0	21.0	17.0
1902	2,570	98,000	57,000	41,000	38.0	22.3	15.7
1903	2,580	106,000	60,000	46,000	40.9	23.5	17.4
1904	2,650	106,000	56,000	50,000	39.8	21.1	18.7
1905	2,660	100,000	65,000	35,000	37.3	24.8	12.5
1906	2,690	113,000	66,000	47,000	42.0	24.5	17.5
1907	2,770	111,000	62,000	49,000	40.0	22.4	17.6
1908	2,820	104,000	67,000	37,000	36.8	23.7	13.1
1909	2,840	110,000	83,000	27,000	38.7	29.3	9.4
1910	2,870	112,000	64,000	48,000	39.0	22.4	16.6
1911	2,940	107,000	64,000	43,000	36.3	21.8	14.5
1912	2,980	114,000	63,000	51,000	38.3	21.1	17.1

1950–2014

Data for Serbia excluding Kosovo.

Source:^[9]

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate	Abortions reported
1950	5 970	163 297	76 851	86 446	27.4	12.9	14.5	3,51
1951	6 042	145 197	80 034	65 163	24.0	13.2	10.8	3,07
1952	6 112	161 306	67 870	93 436	26.4	11.1	15.3	3,33
1953	6 188	151 672	68 168	83 504	24.5	11.0	13.5	3,03
1954	6 274	152 569	62 610	89 959	24.3	10.0	14.3	3,05
1955	6 358	140 396	65 179	75 217	22.1	10.3	11.8	2,81
1956	6 425	132 078	67 055	65 023	20.6	10.4	10.1	2,66
1957	6 481	118 535	64 885	53 650	18.3	10.0	8.3	2,38
1958	6 535	118 425	55 564	62 861	18.1	8.5	9.6	2,45
1959	6 585	114 872	60 850	54 022	17.4	9.2	8.2	2,40
1960	6 635	119 298	61 872	57 426	18.0	9.3	8.7	2,56	81 516
1961	6 693	115 222	57 990	57 232	17.2	8.7	8.6	2,51	95 196
1962	6 752	110 008	62 830	47 178	16.3	9.3	7.0	2,47
1963	6 809	108 324	57 778	50 546	15.9	8.5	7.4	2,46
1964	6 863	103 847	62 100	41 747	15.1	9.0	6.1	2,51
1965	6 916	106 699	58 856	47 843	15.4	8.5	6.9	2,43
1966	6 974	103 775	55 471	48 304	14.9	8.0	6.9	2,45
1967	7 027	103 491	62 915	40 576	14.7	9.0	5.8	2,40	131 502
1968	7 078	103 621	60 932	42 689	14.6	8.6	6.0	2,41
1969	7 127	105 478	68 152	37 326	14.8	9.6	5.2	2,27	162 643
1970	7 171	102 453	67 211	35 242	14.3	9.4	4.9	2,40
1971	7 214	104 070	65 872	38 198	14.4	9.1	5.3	2,30
1972	7 258	106 859	70 822	36 037	14.7	9.8	5.0	2,28
1973	7 303	108 361	67 152	41 209	14.8	9.2	5.6	2,31
1974	7 351	110 458	66 457	44 001	15.0	9.0	6.0	2,32
1975	7 401	112 945	69 590	43 355	15.3	9.4	5.9	2,35
1976	7 452	114 035	68 565	45 470	15.3	9.2	6.1	2,28
1977	7 503	111 510	68 924	42 586	14.9	9.2	5.7	2,26
1978	7 550	110 622	71 986	38 636	14.7	9.5	5.1	2,23
1979	7 611	109 953	72 306	37 647	14.4	9.5	4.9	2,14
1980	7 688	109 597	76 180	33 417	14.3	9.9	4.3	2,26
1981	7 729	103 407	78 086	25 321	13.4	10.1	3.3	2,24
1982	7 738	106 575	78 473	28 102	13.8	10.1	3.6	2,31
1983	7 747	108 003	83 506	24 497	13.9	10.8	3.2	2,23
1984	7 754	107 036	82 742	24 294	13.8	10.7	3.1	2,21
1985	7 759	101 938	81 836	20 102	13.1	10.5	2.6	2,22	214 806
1986	7 759	99 419	83 977	15 442	12.8	10.8	2.0	2,21	212 400
1987	7 757	98 279	83 426	14 853	12.7	10.8	1.9	2,24	205 343
1988	7 755	97 471	83 616	13 855	12.6	10.8	1.8	2,22	193 558
1989	7 773	91 270	85 256	6 014	11.7	11.0	0.8	2,09	193 755
1990	7 806	90 590	85 932	4 658	11.6	11.0	0.6	2,11
1991	7 836	90 378	89 072	1 306	11.5	11.4	0.2	1,80	150 449
1992	7 852	86 877	93 475	-6 598	11.1	11.9	-0.8	1,77	135 907
1993	7 848	87 931	95 121	-7 190	11.2	12.1	-0.9	1,90	113 720
1994	7 843	85 292	93 011	-7 719	10.9	11.9	-1.0	1,87	114 659
1995	7 837	86 236	93 933	-7 697	11.0	12.0	-1.0	1,70	92 785
1996	7 828	82 548	98 370	-15 822	10.5	12.6	-2.0	1,85	80 003
1997	7 831	79 716	98 068	-18 352	10.2	12.5	-2.3	1,76	60 723
1998	7 568	76 330	99 376	-23 046	10.1	13.1	-3.0	1,68	55 360
1999	7 540	72 222	101 444	-29 222	9.6	13.5	-3.9	1,62	43 771
2000	7 516	73 764	104 042	-30 278	9.8	13.8	-4.0	1,48	42 322
2001	7 503	78 435	99 008	-20 573	10.5	13.2	-2.7	1,58	34 255
2002	7 500	78 101	102 785	-24 684	10.4	13.7	-3.3	1,57	30 794
2003	7 481	79 025	103 946	-24 921	10.6	13.9	-3.3	1,59	29 856
2004	7 463	78 186	104 320	-26 134	10.5	14.0	-3.5	1,57	26 645
2005	7 441	72 180	106 771	-34 591	9.7	14.3	-4.6	1,45	26 645
2006	7 412	70 997	102 884	-31 887	9.6	13.9	-4.3	1,43	25 665
2007	7 382	68 102	102 805	-34 703	9.2	13.9	-4.7	1,38	24 273
2008	7 350	69 083	102 711	-33 628	9.4	14.0	-4.6	1,42	24 159
2009	7 321	70 299	104 000	-33 701	9.6	14.2	-4.6	1,45	22 733
2010	7 291	68 304	103 211	-34 907	9.4	14.2	-4.8	1,42	22 092
2011	7 259	65 598	102 935	-37 337	9.0	14.2	-5.2	1,41
2012	7 199	67 257	102 400	-35 143	9.3	14.2	-4.9	1,45
2013¹	7 164	65 554	100 300	-34 746	9.2	14.0	-4.8	1,44
2014	7 132	66 461	101 247	-34 786	9.3	14.2	-4.9	1,47

Ethnic groups

Ethnic map of Serbia, 2002 census

Detailed ethnic map, 2002 census

Situated in the middle of the Balkans, Serbia is home to many different ethnic groups. According to the 2011 census, Serbs are the largest ethnic group in the country and constitute 83.3% of population. Romanians of Serbia are the largest ethnic minority in Serbia, concentrated predominately in south-eastern Timok (known as "Vlachs" for the Romanian historical region of Valachia) and in Vojvodina, representing 3.5% of the country's population. Also a large number of Hungarians live in northern Serbia 3.4% of the population. (13% in Vojvodina). Roma people constitute 2% of the total population but unofficial estimates put their actual number to be twice or three as high.^[10] Bosniaks are third largest ethnic minority mainly inhabiting Raška region in southwestern part of the country. Other minority groups include Croats (0.9%), Slovaks (0.8%), Albanians, Montenegrins (0.5%), Macedonians (0.3%), and Bulgarians (0.3%). The Chinese, estimated at about 15,000, are the only significant immigrant minority.^[11]^[12]

Serbia (excluding Kosovo) in 2011

Serbs			83.3%
Hungarians			3.5%
Roma			2.1%
Bosniaks			2%
Croats			0.8%
Slovaks			0.7%
other			5.3%
unspecified			2.2%

Vojvodina

Serbs			66.7%
Hungarians			13%
Slovaks			2.6%
Croats			2.4%
Roma			2.2%
Romanians			1.9%
Montenegrins			1.1%
other/unspecified			9.7%

Šumadija and Western Serbia

Serbs			88.5%
Bosniaks			7%
Roma			1%
other/unspecified			3.5%

Southern and Eastern Serbia

Serbs			75.1%
Romanians(Vlachs)			15.6%
Roma			3.7%
Bulgarians			1%
other/unspecified			4.2%

Belgrade region

Serbs			90.7%
Roma			1.6%
other/unspecified			7.6%

Ethnic group	census 1948		census 1953		census 1961		census 1971		census 1981		census 1991		census 2002^[13]		census 2011
Ethnic group	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Serbs	4,651,819	80.2	4,963,070	80.4	5,477,670	82.0	5,788,547	80.4	5,972,661	77.3	6,616,917	80.3	6,212,838	82.9	5,988,150	83.3
Hungarians	433,618	7.5	441,748	7.2	449,377	6.7	430,145	6.0	390,321	5.0	337,479	4.5	293,299	3.9	253,899	3.5
Roma	40,951	0.7	46,896	0.8	6,624	0.1	35,301	0.5	76,833	1.0	90,853	1.2	108,193	1.4	147,604	2.1
Muslims	7,636	0.1	74,840	1.2	85,441	1.3	127,973	1.8	156,604	2.0	176,401	2.3	19,503	0.3	22,301	0.3
Bosniaks	7,636	0.1	74,840	1.2	85,441	1.3	127,973	1.8	156,604	2.0	176,401	2.3	136,087	1.8	145,278	2.0
Croats	164,574	2.8	167,045	2.7	189,158	2.8	176,649	2.5	140,650	1.8	97,344	1.2	70,602	0.9	57,900	0.8
Slovaks	73,138	1.3	75,006	1.2	77,816	1.2	76,707	1.1	73,170	0.9	65,363	0.9	59,021	0.8	52,750	0.7
Albanians	33,769	0.6	40,954	0.7	53,167	0.8	68,593	1.0	76,296	1.0	74,303	1.0	61,647	0.8	5,809	0.1
Montenegrins	46,810	0.8	54,718	0.9	67,165	1.0	93,705	1.3	120,438	1.6	117,761	1.6	69,049	0.9	38,527	0.5
Vlachs ~ Romanians	93,440	1.6	28,047	0.5	1,367	0.0	14,719	0.2	25,592	0.3	15,675	0.2	40,054	0.5	35,330	0.5
Romanians	63,112	1.1	59,689	1.0	59,492	0.9	57,399	0.8	53,676	0.7	37,818	0.5	34,576	0.5	29,332	0.4
Yugoslavs					14,873	0.2	122,904	1.7	439,265	5.7	312,595	4.1	80,721	1.1	23,303	0.3
Macedonians	17,391	0.3	26,302	0.4	35,146	0.5	41,627	0.6	47,930	0.6	44,028	0.6	25,847	0.3	22,755	0.3
Bulgarians	59,395	1.0	60,146	1.0	58,243	0.9	53,536	0.7	33,294	0.4	26,416	0.3	20,497	0.3	18,543	0.3
Others^[14]/unspecified	114,493	2.0	132,549	2.1	102,700	1.5	115,093	1.6	122,506	1.6	97,953	1.3	266,067	3.5	368,136	5.1
Total	5,936,223		6,171,010		6,678,239		7,202,898		7,729,236		8,110,906		7,498,001		7,186,862

Serbs
Hungarians
Slovaks
Vlachs

Religion

Serbia (excluding Kosovo) in 2011

Eastern Orthodox			84.5%
Roman Catholic			5%
Islam			3%
Protestant			1%
Other			0.1%
Atheists/Agnostics			1.1%
Unspecified			4.4%

Serbia is a religiously diverse country, with an Eastern Orthodox majority, and Catholic and Muslim minorities, among other smaller confessions.^[15]

Orthodox Christians number 6,079,396 or 84.5% of country's population. The Serbian Orthodox Church is the largest and traditional church of the country, adherents of which are overwhelmingly Serbs. Other Orthodox Christian communities in Serbia include Montenegrins, Romanians, Vlachs, Macedonians and Bulgarians.

There are 356,957 Roman Catholics in Serbia, roughly 5% of the population, mostly in Vojvodina (especially its northern part) which is home to minority ethnic groups such as Hungarians, Croats, Bunjevci, as well as to some Slovaks and Czechs.^[15] Protestantism accounts for about 1% of the country's population, chiefly among Slovaks in Vojvodina as well as among Reformist Hungarians.

Muslims, with 222,282 or 3% of population, form third largest religious group. Islam has a strong historic following in the southern regions of Serbia, primarily in southern Raška. Bosniaks are the largest Islamic community in Serbia; estimates are that some third of country's Roma people are Muslim.

Atheists numbered 80,053 or 1.1% of population and additional 4,070 are Agnostics.^[16]

Languages

Language	Native speakers	%
Serbian	6,330,919	88
Romanian	257,146	3.5
Hungarian	243,871	3.4
Bosnian	134,668	2.1
Other/unspecified	173,258	3

The official language is Serbian, member of the South Slavic group of languages, and is native to 88% of the population.^[16] Recognized minority languages are: Hungarian, Slovak, Albanian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Rusyn as well as Bosnian and Croatian which are completely mutual intelligible with Serbian. All these languages are in official use in municipalities or cities where more than a 15% of population consists of national minority. ^[17] In Vojvodina, provincial administration uses, besides Serbian, five other languages (Hungarian, Slovak, Croatian, Romanian and Rusyn).

Education

According to 2011 census, literacy in Serbia stands at 98% of population while computer literacy is at 49% (complete computer literacy is at 34.2%).^[18] Same census showed the following levels of education: 16.2% of inhabitants have higher education (10.6% have bachelors or master's degrees, 5.6% have an associate degree), 49% have a secondary education, 20.7% have an elementary education, and 13.7% have not completed elementary education.^[19]

Health

The life expectancy in Serbia at birth is 74.2 years, 71.6 for males and 76.8 for females.^[20] Serbia has a comparatively old overall population (among the 10 oldest in the world), with the average age of 42.2 years.^[21]

References

^ http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/WebSite/Public/ReportResultView.aspx?rptKey=indId%3d180108IND01%2635%3d6%266%3d1%2c2%2c3%2c4%2c5%2c6%2c7%2c8%2c9%2c10%2c11%2c12%2c13%2c14%2c15%2c16%2c17%2c18%2c19%262%3d200100%2c201100%26sAreaId%3d180108%26dType%3dName%26lType%3dSerbianCyrillic
^ http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/WebSite/Public/ReportResultView.aspx?rptKey=indId%3d180108IND01%2635%3d6%266%3d1%2c2%2c3%2c4%2c5%2c6%2c7%2c8%2c9%2c10%2c11%2c12%2c13%2c14%2c15%2c16%2c17%2c18%2c19%262%3d200100%2c201100%26sAreaId%3d180108%26dType%3dName%26lType%3dSerbianCyrillic
^ http://pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Starost%20i%20pol-Age%20and%20sex.pdf
^ http://pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Starost%20i%20pol-Age%20and%20sex.pdf
^ http://pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Starost%20i%20pol-Age%20and%20sex.pdf
^ [3]
^ [4]
^ B.R. Mitchell. European historical statistics. 1750-1975.
^ Institut national d'études démographique (INED)
^ "Vesti – Zvaničan broj Roma u Srbiji". B92. 7 April 2009.
^ Chinese Migrants Use Serbia as Gate to Europe. ABC News. 13 July 2010.
^ V. Mijatović – B. Hadžić. "I Kinezi napuštaju Srbiju | Reportaže". Novosti.rs.
^ Official Results of Serbian Census 2003–Population PDF (441 KiB), pp. 12-13 (Serbian)
^ Including Ethnic groups with population less than 2,000 members and dually declared|http://media.popis2011.stat.rs/2012_eng.pdf| Retrieved January, 2015
^ ^a ^b "Становништво, домаћинства и породице – база : Попис у Србији 2011". Popis2011.stat.rs.
^ ^a ^b http://pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Knjiga4_Veroispovest.pdf
^ http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/Report/EvaluationReports/SerbiaECRML2_en.pdf
^ http://pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Skolska%20sprema,%20pismenost%20i%20kompjuterska%20pismenost-Educational%20attainment,%20literacy%20and%20computer%20literacy%20.pdf
^ "Education stats in Serbia". webrzs.stat.gov.rs. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
^ http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/WebSite/Public/ReportResultView.aspx?rptKey=indId%3d180108IND01%2635%3d6%266%3d1%2c2%2c3%2c4%2c5%2c6%2c7%2c8%2c9%2c10%2c11%2c12%2c13%2c14%2c15%2c16%2c17%2c18%2c19%262%3d200100%2c201100%26sAreaId%3d180108%26dType%3dName%26lType%3dSerbianCyrillic
^ "Dnevni list Danas | Društvo | Srbija gubi 30.000 stanovnika godišnje". Danas.rs.

Ethnic groups in Serbia

Serbs Hungarians Roma Bosniaks Croats Slovaks Albanians Romanians Vlachs Montenegrins Yugoslavs Macedonians Bulgarians Ethnic Muslims Bunjevci Rusyns Gorani Germans Arabs Turks Greeks Chinese

See also Demographic history of Serbia

Demographics of Europe

Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Vatican City

States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria

Dependencies and other territories	Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Svalbard

Other entities	European Union

Demographics of Serbia