Serbiа is a country located in South East Europe (the Balkan Peninsula). According to the general data from 2023, published in the Municipalities and regions of the Republic of Serbia, 2024 by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, there are a total of 6158 settlements out of which 5823 are registered as settlements with a municipality status in Serbia. The City of Belgrade is the capital of the country. The total land area is 88,499 square kilometres. The information on average population density is available only for specific regions but not for the country as a whole. Belgrade is the region with the most significant average population density. The region of Southern and Eastern Serbia is the least densely populated area.
Demographic situation
The population decline was not regionally uniform. According to the data collected in 2022, the average natural increase (per 1000 inhabitants) in Serbia was -7%. Belgrade region, as in previous years, recorded the lowest negative value of the natural increase rate (-3.7%), while the highest negative value of this rate (the greatest depopulation) was recorded in Eastern and Southern Serbia (-9.8%).
The natural increase rate in 2022 was positive in four municipalities in the Republic of Serbia: Тutin (10,8%), Novi Pazar (8.2%), Preševo (3.0%) and Sjenica (1.2 %).
Observed by sex, 51.4% were women (3,415,025) and 48.6% were men (3,231,978) according to The Statistical Release published by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (data recorded in 2022). The process of demographic ageing of the population has been manifested by the low and steadily declining participation of young people and the high and continuously increasing share of the elderly in the total population. According to the data for the Republic of Serbia in 2022, the average age of the population was 43.85 years.
The total fertility rate (the number of live births per woman) amounting to 1.63 was higher in 2022 than in the year before. Observed by regions, the total fertility rate was the highest in Vojvodina region, Šumadija region and Western Serbia region and the lowest in Eastern and Southern Serbia. According to the data from 2022, the share of boys under the age of 15 was 15.3% and the share of girls under the age of 15 was 13.6%.
According to the data from the same year, by ethnic composition, 80.6% of the population were Serbs, 2.8% Hungarians, 1.9% Roma, 2.3% Bosniaks, 0.9% Albanians, 0.6% Croats and 0.6% Slovaks. Other ethnic groups were present in the population with a share of 0.5% or less (Montenegrins, Vlachs, Romanians, Yugoslavs, Macedonians, Muslims and others).
According to data from 2023, published in the Municipalities and Regions of the Republic of Serbia, 2024 by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, the total number of registered employees was 2,360,588 representing 35.5% of inhabitants in Serbia. Most of them were employees at legal entities (companies, enterprises, cooperatives, institutions and other organisations) and persons performing activities for their own account, entrepreneurs and their employees. Some of them were registered individual agricultural producers (farmers).
The participation of employees aged 15–29 in total employment was 17.6%. Regarding relevant categories of registered unemployed individuals, according to the data recorded in December 2023, there were 57.3% first-time job seekers, 35.5% unqualified individuals and 56.1% women.
According to The Statistical Release on Labour Force Survey published by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, the employment rate for the third quarter of 2024 amounted to 51.9%, representing an increase of 1.4 percentage points compared with the same quarter in 2023. The unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2024 was 8.1%.
Migrations
Due to war conflicts on the territory of the former SFRY, the last decade of the 20th century was characterised by new migratory movements that were reflected in the inflow of a large number of refugees from the territories of the former SFRY republics and in the internal population displacement from the territory of the AP Kosovo and Metohija. At the same time, people continued to migrate abroad, abandon under-developed areas and concentrate in larger urban centres within the Republic of Serbia.
From 2012 to 2022 at the global level and in Serbia, under the influence of the Covid 19 pandemic, socio-economic changes and war conflicts, the usual patterns of population migration changed. Global changes were reflected in the migration flows of the population of the Republic of Serbia.
According to the data from the last census (2022), the results indicate that 53.48% of the population was autochthonous, while 46.52% migrated to the census place.
The total migrant population is 3,092,099 people, while 3,554,904 have lived in the same settlement since birth. There are several categories of migration: from another settlement in the municipality (10.9%), from another municipality within the same area (7.2%), from another area (16.4%), from the former SFRY republics (8.2%), from other countries (3.3%) and unknown municipality or country of migration (0.4%).
Observed by sex, there are many more women than men among the migrant population (60% of women and 40% of men). Many men and women migrated to the place of enumeration from some other municipality on the territory of the Republic of Serbia (more than 50%). The most significant differences by sex and territory of migration are noticeable among people who migrated from another settlement on the territory of the same municipality. Namely, every fourth woman migrated to the place of enumeration from another settlement in the same municipality, while every fifth man migrated from one to another settlement within the same municipality.
In 2023 there were 145,843 people who changed residence or moved permanently from one settlement to another in the Republic of Serbia. The average age of people who changed residence was 36.1 years (36.7 for men and 35.6 for women). Most of them moved from another area (34.8%) and the smallest number of people moved from one settlement to another within the same municipality/city (30.8%). Observed at the level of municipalities/towns, 50 municipalities/towns had positive migration balance in 2023, while in the rest of the 118 municipalities/towns it was negative.
From the economic activity point of view, 60.6% of migrants were dependent on someone else, 30.4% are active and 9.0% have personal income.
According to the data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a significantly larger number of foreigners resided in the Republic of Serbia in 2023 compared to the previous decade.
The largest group of foreign nationals residing in the country came for employment, particularly in the IT sector and infrastructure projects. The largest number of foreigners migrated from the Russian Federation (51%) and China (15%), followed by Turkey (7.5%) and India (4.2%). Emigration often relates to the mobility of a young and highly educated workforce who have been seeking better opportunities in times of crisis and isolation in the past twenty-five years. The largest number of immigrants migrate to the EU countries, the most common destinations being Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Sweden, Slovenia, etc. Serbia is a European country that does not belong to the single unified EU labour market so the possibilities for spatial mobility of its citizens are limited. According to the Eurostat data, used in the Ministry of Internal Affairs report 573,952 citizens of the Republic of Serbia had valid residence permits at the end of 2022. The largest number of them resided in Germany (41.03%) and Austria (18.67%). In 2022, the highest number of first-time residence permits for citizens of the Republic of Serbia was granted in Germany, Croatia, and Austria.
Languages
In Serbia, the official language is Serbian which is written using both Cyrillic and Latin scripts, with the primacy of the Cyrillic script. Minority languages have equal official status at the national and provincial levels if the population of speakers exceeds 2%. At municipal level a language becomes official if at least 15% of the population speaks it according to the last census. In Vojvodina, which is the most diverse in terms of ethnicity, Hungarian, Slovak, Rusyn, Romanian and Croatian are in official use at the provincial level. In addition, Czech and Macedonian are in use at the municipal level. In several municipalities, as many as five languages are in official use. In the municipalities in the south of the country, Albanian is in use and Bulgarian is used in the southeastern part. In all municipalities where a minority language is in official use, there is a possibility of organising classes at all levels of education (primary, secondary) in their native language. At least 15 students enrolled in the first grade at a certain level of education is a required condition for organising such classes (although exceptions are possible).
According to the declaration regarding the mother tongue, 84.4% of the population declared that their mother tongue is Serbian, followed by 2.6% who speak Hungarian, 2.2% who speak Bosnian, 1.2% Roma, 1% Albanian, 0.6% Slovakian and approximately 6% reported other languages. Additionally,1.3% of the population did not specify their mother tongue.
Religions
The map of confessions has been changing historically in accordance with the changing of the country’s boundaries. During the Middle Ages, Eastern Orthodoxy of the Serbian Orthodox Church was the dominant confession in the area southern of the Danube River to Greece. With the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, the Islamic population settles (especially in cities) while a part of the local population accepts Islam. However, in this period, the dominant confession was Orthodoxy. The most significant ethnic change and the change in the map of confessions occurred during the 17th and 18th centuries after the Great Turkish War and the Austro-Russian-Turkish War, which caused significant migrations of the Serbian Orthodox population. This changed the ratio of the Orthodox people in the south of the country (in favour of Islamic confession) while the newly arrived residents in the territory of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy became a significant ethnic and confessional group. After gaining autonomy and establishing the independent state of Serbia in the early 19th century, Serbia initially experienced a period of ethnic and confessional homogeneity. However, after the First World War it became a part of the state union of South Slavs characterised by ethnic and confessional diversity. After World War II and the Communist revolution, religious freedoms were reduced (in terms of freedom of religion practising, primarily in public places), but not abolished. Confessional affiliation became an essential element of ethnic identification and contributed to the divisions during the disintegration of Yugoslavia. This occurred among people who spoke the same (or similar) languages and shared similar cultural patterns.
Currently, according to the last census in Serbia and the data recorded in 2022 regarding religious affiliation, 86.6% inhabitants were Christians, 81% inhabitants were Orthodox Christians, 3.8% were Catholics and 0.8% were Protestants, 0.9% were other Christians, while 4.2% were Muslims. Around 3% of inhabitants did not declare themselves confessionally.
According to the current Law on Churches and Religious Communities, which came into force in 2006, eight religious communities have the legal status: Serbian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Slovak Evangelical Church (a.c.), Christian Reformed Church, Evangelical Christian Church (a.c.), Jewish Religious Community, Islamic Religious Community, and Roman Orthodox Church Dakia Felix.
The Register of Churches and religious communities also includes 17 other religious organizations: Christian Adventist Church, Evangelical Methodist Church, Evangelical Church in Serbia, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Spiritual Church of Christ, Church of God in Serbia, Christian Nazarene Religious Community, Alliance of Christian Baptist Churches in Serbia, Slovak Union of Baptist Churches in Serbia, Protestant Christian Community in Serbia, Church of Christ Brethren in Serbia, Free Church Belgrade, Jehovah's Witnesses – Christian religious community, Zion Covenant Church, Union Reform Movement Seventh-day Adventist, Protestant Evangelical Church “Spiritual Center”, Evangelical Church of Christ, Union of Baptist Churches in Serbia, Charismatic Community of Faith in Serbia, The Buddhist religious community of Nichiren-Daishonin, Christian Community “LOGOS” in Serbia, Church of Golgotha in Serbia, Theravada Buddhist Community in Serbia, Bible Center – Good News, Protestant Reformist Church of Czech community in Veliko Središte, The first Roma Christian Church in Serbia, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness – ISKCON, and New Apostolic Church in Serbia.