Serbian diaspora

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (September 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on
Serbs
Native Serbia Vojvodina Kosovo and Metohija Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Croatia North Macedonia Romania Hungary Albania Bulgaria Slovenia
Diaspora Europe Austria Azerbaijan Belarus France Germany Greece Italy Luxembourg Norway Portugal Russia Slovakia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Overseas Argentina Australia Canada New Zealand South Africa United States Venezuela
Culture Symbols Religion Slava Christmas traditions Cultural Heritage sites Architecture Art Literature Epic poetry Music Cinema Costume Dances Cuisine Kinship Sport
History Name Origins History of Serbs History of Serbia Serbian rulers
Language Serbian Shtokavian Torlakian Šumadija–Vojvodina Eastern Herzegovinian Prizren-Timok Smederevo–Vršac Zeta–Raška Church Slavonic Old Slavonic-Serbian Serbo-Croatian South Slavic
Religion Serbian Orthodox Catholic Church Islamic Community
Related nations South Slavs Bosniaks Bulgarians Croats Macedonians Montenegrins
v t e

Serbian diaspora refers to Serbian emigrant communities in the diaspora. The existence of a numerous diaspora of Serbian nationals is mainly a consequence of either economic or political (coercion or expulsion) reasons.

There were different waves of Serbian migration, characterized by:^[1]

1. Economic emigration (end of 19th–beginning of 20th c.)
2. Political emigration (from 1945 up to 1967) of anti-Communist regime members, better known as the Chetnik Immigration
3. Economic emigration (1967 up to the 1980s) of mostly laborers with mid-level education or professionals of higher education
4. Political emigration (1990s) refugees of the Yugoslav Wars.

The main countries of destination were Germany, Austria, the United States, Sweden, Canada, and Australia.^[2] Based on a 2007 estimate, there were 4.2 to 5.8 million Serbians or people of Serbian origin in the diaspora.^[3] The Ministry of Diaspora (MoD) estimated in 2008 that the Serbian diaspora numbered 3,908,000 to 4,170,000, the numbers including not only Serbian citizens but people who view Serbia as their nation-state regardless of the citizenship they hold; these could include second- and third-generation Serbian emigrants or descendants of emigrants from other former Yugoslav republics who never obtained Serbian citizenship but are ethnic Serbs.^[3] By continent or region, it was estimated that 2,705,000–2,765,000 lived in Europe (excluding former Yugoslavia), 1–1,2 million in North America, 130,000 in Australia, 26,000 in Africa, 20,000 in Central and South America, 8,000 in Asia, 5,000–7,000 in New Zealand, 5,000 in the Middle East.^[4] There were c. 1,000 diaspora associations, registered in 191 countries.^[1]

In 2014 it was estimated based on diplomatic-consular posts that the Serbian diaspora numbered 5.1 million in about 100 states.^[5] The term "Serbs in the region" is used for ethnic Serbs of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Albania, Kosovo and Hungary, estimated to number 2,120,000.^[5] The latter group may or may not be included in estimates.