Islam in Serbia: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Serbia

Islam entered Serbia when the Ottoman Empire conquered Belgrade in 1452. As the Ottoman Empire started getting weaker, Muslims lost control of Serbia to the Austrian Empire in 1718 but was regained in 1738. Muslims then lost control for good when Serbs rebelled and declared their independence in 1830. The Vojvodina region was under Hungary between 1848 and 1918, after which it was annexed by Serbia.

Currently, the Republic of Serbia has an area of 77,474 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 4.1.10. It consists of Proper Serbia (55,968 sq km) and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (21,506 sq km) in the north. Censuses in both territories were conducted regularly since mid-eighteenth century. For Vojvodina (Table 4.1.10a), Muslim adherence was collected by the Hungarians until the 1910 census, and later collected by Yugoslavia in the censuses of 1921, 1931, 1953, 1991 and onward by the Serbs. For Central Serbia or Serbia Proper (Table 4.1.10c), Islam was asked on the censuses between 1884 and 1921, and in 1953, 1991, and 2002. When inferring religious adherence from ethnicity in 1948, 1961, 1971, and 1981, the Albanians and Muslims by nationality were assumed Muslim. The recorded numbers of both ethnicities in censuses since 1948 are summarized in Table 4.1.10b for Vojvodina and Table 4.1.10d for Serbia Proper.

The presence of Muslims in Vojvodina was negligible until the end of WWI and its subsequent succession from Hungary and joining Yugoslavia. Accordingly, the number of Muslims increased from none in 1870, to one in 1880, to thirteen in 1910. The Muslim percentage of the population remained low though, increasing from around 0.1% in 1921-1948, to 0.2% in 1953, to 0.3% in 1961, to 0.4% in 1971 and 1981, to 0.5% in 1991, and then decreased to 0.4% in 2002, but increased again to 0.8% in 2011.

As for Serbia Proper, The Muslim population increased from 0.8% to 0.5% between 1884 and 1910, to 3% in 1921, decreased again to 1% in 1948, then remained between 3% and 4% from 1953 to 1991, and reached 4.4% in 2002, but decreased to 4.1% in 2011.

Thus, combining the data for Vojvodina and Central Serbia, we get the data in Table 4.1.10e for the Republic of Serbia in its current borders. Accordingly, the Muslim population increased from around 6,000 or 0.3% in 1874, to 15,000 or 0.5% in 1884, to 17,000 or 0.5% in 1891, but decreased to 15,000 or 0.4% in 1900 and 14,000 or 0.3% in 1910. The Muslim population then increased to 98,000 or 2.2% in 1921, to 114,000 or 2.2% in 1931, then decreased to 41,000 or 0.7% in 1948, then remained between 2.4% and 3.0% from 1953 to 1991, numbering between 0.12 million and 0.23 million, and reached 0.24 million or 3.3% in 2002, but decreased to 0.22 million or 3.2% in 2011.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by a tenth of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to decrease in number from 0.2 million or 3.5% in 2050 to 0.1 million or 4% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Serbia

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.