Population, Language and Religion

The ethnic population of the Republic of Serbia is heterogeneous, which resulted from the country's turbulent past. The majority of the population of Serbia are Serbs, but another 37 nationalities also live on its territory. All citizens have equal rights and responsibilities and enjoy full ethnic equality.

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia guarantees the rights to minorities, in accordance with the highest international standards. The last 2002 census puts the population of Serbia at 7,498,001 excluding Kosovo-Metohija, which is 92.3 percent of the population of the State Union of Serbia-Montenegro. Serbs make up 82.86 percent of the population, Hungarians 3.91 percent, Bosniaks 1.82 percent, followed by Roma 1.44 percent, Croats 0.94 percent, Albanians 0.82 percent, Slovaks 0.79 percent, Vlachs 0.53 percent, Romanians 0.46 percent, Bulgarians 0.27 percent, etc.

The official language in Serbia is Serbian and the alphabet in official use is Cyrillic, while Latin script is also used. In the areas inhabited by national minorities, the languages and alphabets of the minorities are in official use, as provided by law.

The main religion of Serbia is Christian Orthodox, the faith of the Serbian people. The Serbian Orthodox Church, which has been autonomous since 1219, has played an important role in the development and preservation of the Serbian national identity. The Romanian, Bulgarian and the majority of the Roma population are also Christian Orthodox. Beside the Christian Orthodox population, there are also other religious communities in Serbia: Islamic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and others.