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Genetik/Peoples/Serbs

Serbs

Сербы · Q127885

language area per Glottologcensus counts
5,360,239
Serbia, census 2022 (ethnicity / nationality)
5,741,677
sum of censuses in 12 countries, 2001-2023
Indo-European
language family (Glottolog)

In brief

The largest documented number lives in Serbia: 5,360,239 people in the 2022 census.

Official figures exist for 12 countries; together they add up to 5,741,677. This is not an estimate of the world total: the censuses were held in different years (2001-2023) and define belonging differently, and countries without such data are not counted.

In Russia's 2020 census (reference date 1 October 2021), 2,151 people identified with the nationality "Сербы" (Serbs)1. That is less than 0.01% of the 130,587,364 residents who stated a nationality.

Rosstat also assigns 2 other self-designations to this nationality (listed in Russian in the source table).

Main language: Serbian Standard. Glottolog classifies it in the Indo-European family.

Where they live: census figures

Each figure comes from the country's official census. Censuses define belonging differently (self-identification, citizenship, mother tongue, ancestry); the type is given on each row.

Serbia2022 · ethnicity / nationality · «Срби» · [2]
5,360,239
United States2023 · ancestry (self-reported) · «Serbian» · [3]
181,469
Montenegro2011 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [4]
178,110
Croatia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [5]
123,892
Slovenia2002 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [6]
38,964
North Macedonia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [7]
23,847
Romania2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [8]
12,026
Russia2021 · ethnicity / nationality · «Сербы» · [1]
2,151
Slovakia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [9]
1,084
Ukraine2001 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [10]
623
Albania2023 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [11]
584
Kazakhstan2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [12]
116
Latvia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Serbian» · [13]
41
Sum across 12 countries5,741,677

In detail: Russia, 2021 census

Sex, urban and rural, Russian regions

Sex

Men 1,715 · 79.7%Women 436 · 20.3%

Urban and rural

Urban 1,890 · 87.9%Rural 261 · 12.1%

Where: the 10 regions with the largest numbers

Moscow (city)
578
Moscow Oblast
239
Krasnodar Krai
210
Saint Petersburg (city)
148
Republic of Tatarstan
72
Sverdlovsk Oblast
56
Tyumen Oblast (excl. autonomous okrugs)
54
Samara Oblast
48
Leningrad Oblast
37
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra
31

Source [1]: Rosstat, 2020 census, vol. 5, table 1

Languages and their lineage

Serbian Standard

  1. Indo-Europeanindo1319
  2. Classical Indo-Europeanclas1257
  3. Balto-Slavicbalt1263
  4. Slavicslav1255
  5. South Slavicsout3147
  6. Western South Slavicwest2804
  7. Serbian-Croatian-Bosniansout1528
  8. Shtokavskishto1241
  9. New Shtokaviannews1236
  10. Eastern Herzegovinian Shtokavianeast2821
  11. Serbian Standardserb1264

People-to-language links: Wikidata (properties P103 and P2936), checked against ISO 639-3 codes. Language classification: Glottolog 5.3.

Peoples of the same language family

PakistanisRussiansMarathiGermansSpaniardsMexicansUkrainiansEnglishIrishAmericansItaliansRomaniansNepali (Khas-Arya)DutchBelarusiansTajiksCzechsScotsBulgariansSlovaksArmeniansCubansLithuaniansAlbanians

Sources

  1. Rosstat. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation. Results of the 2020 All-Russian Population Census (reference date 1 October 2021), vol. 5, table 1. Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx (archived copy)
  2. Републички завод за статистику (Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia). Национална припадност / Ethnicity (Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i stanova 2022, Stanovništvo), Belgrade 2023, Table A1. https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2023/PdfE/G20234001.pdf
  3. U.S. Census Bureau. ACS 2023 1-year, Table B04006 (variable B04006_068E, label Estimate!!Total:!!Serbian). https://data.census.gov/api/access/data/table?id=ACSDT1Y2023.B04006&g=010XX00US
  4. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Montenegro, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  5. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Croatia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  6. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Slovenia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  7. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. North Macedonia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  8. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Romania, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  9. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Slovakia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  10. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Ukraine, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  11. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Albania, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  12. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Kazakhstan, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  13. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Latvia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  14. Hammarström H., Forkel R., Haspelmath M., Bank S. (2026). Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. glottolog.org (CC BY 4.0)