Yugoslavs

For other uses, see Yugoslavs (disambiguation).

Yugoslavs
Census figures of self-declared Yugoslavs:[a]   100,000+   10,000+   1,000+   50+
Regions with significant populations
United States210,395 (2021)
(Yugoslav Americans)[1]
Canada38,480 (2016)
(Yugoslav Canadians)[2]
Serbia27,143 (2022)
(Yugoslavs in Serbia)[3]
Australia26,883 (2011)[4]
Bosnia and Herzegovina2,570 (2013)[5]
Montenegro1,632 (2023)[6]
Croatia942 (2021)[7]
Slovenia527 (2002)[8]
North Macedonia344 (2021)[9]
Russia60 (2021)[10]
Languages
South Slavic languages, English
Religion
Major religious affiliations:
Related ethnic groups
South Slavs, other Slavic peoples
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Yugoslavs
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Ethnicities

Yugoslavs or Yugoslavians (Serbo-Croatian: Jugoslaveni/Jugosloveni, Југославени/Југословени;[b] Slovene: Jugoslovani; Macedonian: Југословени, romanized: Jugosloveni) is an identity that was originally conceived to refer to a united South Slavic people. It has been used in two connotations: the first in a sense of common shared ethnic descent, i.e. panethnic or supraethnic connotation for ethnic South Slavs,[c] and the second as a term for all citizens of former Yugoslavia regardless of ethnicity. Cultural and political advocates of Yugoslav identity have historically purported the identity to be applicable to all people of South Slav heritage, including those of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. Although Bulgarians are a South Slavic group as well, attempts at uniting Bulgaria with Yugoslavia were unsuccessful, and therefore Bulgarians were not included in the panethnic identification. Since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and establishment of South Slavic nation states, the term ethnic Yugoslavs has been used to refer to those who exclusively view themselves as Yugoslavs with no other ethnic self-identification, many of these being of mixed ancestry.[11]

In the former Yugoslavia, the official designation for those who declared themselves simply as Yugoslav was with quotation marks, "Yugoslavs" (introduced in census 1971). The quotation marks were originally meant to distinguish Yugoslav ethnicity from Yugoslav citizenship, which was written without quotation marks. The majority of those who had once identified as ethnic "Yugoslavs" reverted to or adopted traditional ethnic and national identities, sometimes due to social pressure, intimidation, detrimental consequences, or prevention to continue identifying as Yugoslav by new political authorities.[12][13] Some also decided to turn to sub-national regional identifications, especially in multi-ethnic historical regions like Istria, Vojvodina, or Bosnia (hence Bosnians). The Yugoslav designation, however, continues to be used by many, especially in the United States, Canada, and Australia by the descendants of Yugoslav migrants who emigrated while the country still existed.


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  1. ^ "2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". American Community Survey 2021. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity Highlight Tables". statcan.gc.ca. 25 October 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference serbcens was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Fact sheets : Ancestry – Serbian". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 20 September 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference BIH was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Monstat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference HR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference slostat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference mk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "2. Состав группы населения "Указавшие другие ответы о национальной принадлежности"" [2. Composition of the population group "Those who indicated other answers about nationality"]. Federal State Statistics Service. 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  11. ^ S. Szayna, Thomas; Zanini, Michele (January 2001). "Chapter Three". The Yugoslav Retrospective Case (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference opendem was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Perica, Vjekoslav (2002). "11. The Twilight of Balkan Idols". Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States. Oxford University Press. p. 207. doi:10.1093/0195148568.001.0001. ISBN 0-19-517429-1. Although the name was appropriated by the Milošević regime, during the 1990s, vestiges of the former Yugoslavia began to disappear. A million-strong group known not long ago as "Yugoslavs by nationality" has vanished. As early as 1992, American reporters from Balkan battlefields noticed the revival of the primordial ethnic identities at the expense of the Yugoslav identity. Some of the "Yugoslavs by nationality" were forced to change nationality and others became disillusioned and undetermined about who they are, while many discovered the traditional religious and ethnic identities and became neophytes.