Serbian diaspora

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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 Serb 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 Serbs or people of Serbian origin in the diaspora.^[3] The Ministry of Diaspora (MoD) estimated in 2008 that the Serb 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.