Demographics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Demographics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, during its existence from 1945 until 1991, include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects. During its last census in 1991, Yugoslavia enumerated 23,528,230 people. Serbs had a plurality, followed by Croats, Bosniaks, Albanians, Slovenes and Macedonians.

This is data from the last four Yugoslav censuses (1961, 1971, 1981, and 1991). Ethnic groups that were considered to be constitutive (explicitly mentioned in the constitution, and not considered minority or immigrant) appear in bold text.

The population data are from the 1991 census.

Rank	Republic/Province	Population 1991[4]	%
1	Serbia	9,791,475	40.9%
---	Serbia proper	5,824,126	24.0%
2	Croatia	4,784,265	20.6%
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	4,364,574	18.8%
4	Macedonia	2,033,964	8.8%
---	Vojvodina	2,012,605	8.6%
---	Kosovo	1,954,744	8.4%
5	Slovenia	1,962,606	8.2%
6	Montenegro	615,276	2.6%
	Yugoslavia	23,528,230	100%

Rank	Republic/Province	Population[4]	Area (km2)[2]	Density
---	Kosovo	1,954,744	10,887	183.1
1	SR Serbia	9,791,475	88,361	114.0
---	Serbia proper	5,824,126	55,968	99.4
2	Slovenia	1,962,606	20,251	94.5
---	Vojvodina	2,012,605	21,506	92.8
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	4,364,574	51,129	85.6
4	Croatia	4,784,265	56,538	84.6
5	Macedonia	2,033,964	25,713	79.1
6	Montenegro	615,276	13,810	44.5
	Yugoslavia	23,528,230	255,804	92.6

According to the 1991 census, there were 19 cities in Yugoslavia with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The population of these cities has developed as follows: ^[5]

In addition to demographic changes, the incorporation of suburbs is also responsible for the changes in the number of inhabitants. Rijeka (Fiume) was still part of Italy in 1921.

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The SFRY recognised "nations" (narodi) and "nationalities" (narodnosti) separately; the former included the constituent Slavic peoples, while the latter included other Slavic and non-Slavic ethnic groups such as Bulgarians and Slovaks (Slavic); and Hungarians and Albanians (non-Slavic). About a total of 26 known ethnic groups were known to live in Yugoslavia, including non-European originated Romani people.

Some of the largest non-Slavic ethnic minorities – Hungarians of Serbia, Germans (predominantly Danube Swabians), Kosovar Albanians and Istrian Italians – had been considered "troublesome" by Yugoslav authorities already in the first, interwar Yugoslavia, in part for supporting their ethnic interests and nation states as opposed to pan-Slavic ambitions during World War I.^[19]

^[20] Minority rights of non-Slavs were neither guaranteed nor upheld, but rather stifled if they had proved "anti-Yugoslavian". Education in Hungarian and German was limited, a number of Hungarian and German cultural societies had been banned in the Kingdom until the late 1930s, when the country drifted towards pro-axis positions. Nonetheless, local Germans collaborated with the Nazi occupation forces during World War II, and ethnic Hungarians generally welcomed the return of Bačka region to Hungary. The Yugoslav communist partisan movement was unpopular among those minorities, with the German Ernst Thälmann unit existing merely on paper and the Hungarian Petőfi unit numbering mere hundred men. After the occupation forces were pushed out of Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Germans, Hungarians and Italians were either imprisoned in labor camps (such as Goli Otok prison) or executed in summary executions.

After World War II, around 250,000 Germans and Italians were expelled or fled from the country, fearing reprisals, their property confiscated, in the events known as the expulsion of Germans after World War II and Istrian–Dalmatian exodus, the latter in the newly annexed areas in Istria and Rijeka, as well as from Dalmatia.^[21] Hundreds (several thousands, according to some estimates) were summarily killed in the process. The same befell Hungarians, who faced mass murders in Vojvodina. Modern estimates vary about 35 000 - 40 000 Hungarians killed. After the war, however, free education in the native languages of the minorities were guaranteed by the Communist constitution.

During the era of Tito–Stalin split, many Hungarians (who in 1953 made up around 25% of the population in Vojvodina^[22]) were sympathetic towards the Hungarian People's Republic, and the words of Radio Budapest spread among the villagers.

In 1950s, various ethnic stereotypes about specific nations in the country were commonly recounted and circulated in the media. Bulgarians were reported to be a "poor and backward minority", while in contrast, Czechs and Slovaks were "industrious and valuable minorities" for Yugoslavia. Some Czechs and Slovaks also emigrated after the war, but a "large number" of them returned after communists seized power in Czechoslovakia in 1948.^[23]

• Demographics of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Demographics of Croatia
• Demographics of North Macedonia
• Demographics of Serbia and Montenegro
  • Demographics of Montenegro
  • Demographics of Serbia
    • Demographics of Kosovo
• Demographics of Slovenia

• Coggins, Bridget (2014). Power Politics and State Formation in the Twentieth Century: The Dynamics of Recognition. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107047358. OCLC 1062293584.
• Judah, Tim (2008). The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300147841. OCLC 845556553.
• Lane, Ann (2017). Yugoslavia: When Ideals Collide. Macmillan International Higher Education. ISBN 9780230214071. OCLC 716811942.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
• Skutsch, Carl (2013). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781135193881. OCLC 863823479.
• Szajkowski, Bogdan (1981). Marxist Governments: A World Survey: Volume 3 Mozambique — Yugoslavia. Springer. ISBN 9781349043323. OCLC 492269719.

• Shoup, Paul (1963). "Yugoslavia's National Minorities under Communism". Slavic Review. 22 (1): 64–81. doi:10.2307/3000388. JSTOR 3000388.