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 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.
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.
The years after the Serbian Revolution saw frequent border changes of Serbia amidst the disintegration of the Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
TOTAL = 678,192
TOTAL = 828,895
TOTAL = 859,545
TOTAL = 915,080
TOTAL = 956,893
TOTAL = 998,919
TOTAL = 1,078,281
TOTAL = 1,108,668
TOTAL = 1,216,219
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%)
TOTAL = 1,669,337
TOTAL = 2,493,770
Serbs = over 2 Mill. (ca. 90%)
Romanians (Vlachs) = 159,000 (6.43%)
Roma (Gipsies) = 46,000 (1.84%)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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:
Registered population:
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%)
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%)
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. 30,000 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%)
