Demographics of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
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The Kingdom of Yugoslavia existed between its creation in 1918 until its occupation and partition by Axis powers in World War II. The first census in 1921 enumerated 11,984,911, while the second and last census in 1931 enumerated 13,934,038 people. While both censuses grouped ethnic groups according to their mother tongue, the latter did not record separate constituent nationalities and reported all "Serbo-Croato-Slovene" speakers as "Yugoslavs".
Serbs and Croats
Slovenes
Albanians
Hungarians
Romanians
Serbs
Croats
Slovenes
Unexplained, Religion Islam
Germans
Romanians
Bulgarians
Turks
Hungarians
| Ethnic group | Number | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Serbs | 4,665,851 | 38.8% |
| Croats | 2,856,551 | 23.8% |
| Slovenes | 1,024,761 | 8.5% |
| Slavic Muslims | 727,650 | 6.1% |
| Macedonians or Bulgarians | 585,558 | 4.9% |
| Other Slavs | 174,466 | 1.5% |
| Germans | 513,472 | 4.3% |
| Hungarians | 472,409 | 3.9% |
| Albanians | 441,740 | 3.7% |
| Romanians and Cincari[2] (Vlachs, Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians) | 229,398 | 1.9% |
| Turks | 168,404 | 1.4% |
| Jews | 64,159 | 0.5% |
| Italians | 12,825 | 0.1% |
| Others | 80,079 | 0.7% |
| Total | 12,017,323 | 100% |
| 1 Source: Banac, Ivo (1992). The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics (2nd printing ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 58. ISBN 9780801494932. (The table represents a reconstruction of Yugoslavia's ethnic structure immediately after the establishment of the kingdom in 1918.) | ||
| Ethnic group | Number |
|---|---|
| Serbs | 5,963,000 |
| Croats | 3,221,000 |
| Slovenes | 1,133,000 |
| Bosnian Muslims | 729,000 |
| Macedonians | 642,000 |
| Germans | 498,000 |
| Albanians | 479,000 |
| Hungarians | 467,000 |
| Turks | 353,000 |
| Czechs and Slovaks | 153,000 |
| Romanians | 134,000 |
| Jews | 68,000 |
| Others | 174,000 |
| Total | 14,014,000 |
| 1 Source: Jovanović, Vladan (2011). Вардарска Бановина 1929–1941 (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Institute for Recent History of Serbia. p. 53-54. (The table represents a reconstruction of Yugoslavia’s ethnic structure based on a document from the corpus of the Ministerial Council of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which provides a detailed ethnic breakdown contrary to the principle on which the 1931 census was conducted and to which reference was later made retroactively.) | |
| Ethnic group | Number | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Serbs | 5,167,300 | 37.08% |
| Croats | 4,010,000 | 28.88% |
| Bulgarians (including Macedonians) | 1,165,100 | 8.32% |
| Slovenes | 1,101,500 | 7.90% |
| Germans | 498,600 | 3.58% |
| Albanians | 478,600 | 3.43% |
| Hungarians | 467,300 | 3.35% |
| Montenegrins | 284,100 | 1.75% |
| Slavic Muslims | 281,000 | 1.72% |
| Romanians | 134,300 | 0.96% |
| Turks | 132,200 | 0.95% |
| Slovaks | 71,500 | |
| Roma | 64,900 | |
| Czechs | 52,200 | |
| Russians | 36,600 | |
| Ukrainians | 30,900 | |
| Spanish Jews | 27,600 | |
| Pomaks | 18,600 | |
| Total | 14,022,300 | 100% |
| 1 Source: Jovanović, Vladan (2011). Вардарска Бановина 1929–1941 (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade: Institute for Recent History of Serbia. p. 54-55. (The table represents a reconstruction of Yugoslavia’s ethnic structure according to the journal National Minorities (3-4/1939).) | ||
Vital statistics (1919–1940)
| Average population[4] | Live births[4] | Deaths[4] | Natural change[4] | Crude birth rate (per 1,000)[4] | Crude death rate (per 1,000)[4] | Natural change (per 1,000)[4] | Total fertility rate[4] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1919 | 11,706,957 | 347,748 | 258,638 | 89,110 | 29.7 | 22.1 | 7.6 | 4.83 |
| 1920 | 11,881,764 | 422,267 | 250,090 | 172,177 | 35.5 | 21.0 | 14.5 | 4.79 |
| 1921 | 12,059,178 | 442,530 | 252,104 | 190,426 | 36.7 | 20.9 | 15.8 | 4.75 |
| 1922 | 12,239,245 | 420,910 | 254,478 | 166,432 | 34.4 | 20.8 | 13.6 | 4.70 |
| 1923 | 12,421,997 | 432,779 | 252,543 | 180,236 | 34.8 | 20.3 | 14.5 | 4.66 |
| 1924 | 12,607,480 | 442,835 | 254,527 | 188,308 | 35.1 | 20.2 | 14.9 | 4.62 |
| 1925 | 12,795,732 | 437,070 | 239,429 | 197,641 | 34.2 | 18.7 | 15.4 | 4.57 |
| 1926 | 12,986,796 | 459,035 | 244,761 | 214,274 | 35.3 | 18.8 | 16.5 | 4.53 |
| 1927 | 13,180,709 | 451,617 | 276,294 | 175,323 | 34.3 | 21.0 | 13.3 | 4.49 |
| 1928 | 13,377,523 | 437,523 | 272,606 | 164,917 | 32.7 | 20.4 | 12.3 | 4.44 |
| 1929[5] | 13,577,272 | 452,544 | 286,249 | 166,295 | 33.3 | 21.1 | 12.2 | 4.40 |
| 1930 | 13,780,006 | 489,270 | 261,497 | 227,773 | 35.5 | 19.0 | 16.5 | 4.36 |
| 1931 | 13,982,000 | 470,275 | 276,840 | 193,435 | 33.6 | 19.8 | 13.8 | 4.31 |
| 1932 | 14,174,000 | 465,935 | 272,180 | 193,755 | 32.9 | 19.2 | 13.7 | 4.27 |
| 1933 | 14,369,000 | 452,229 | 243,717 | 208,512 | 31.5 | 17.0 | 14.5 | 4.22 |
| 1934 | 14,566,000 | 460,913 | 248,882 | 212,031 | 31.6 | 17.1 | 14.6 | 4.18 |
| 1935 | 14,767,000 | 441,728 | 248,978 | 192,750 | 29.9 | 16.9 | 13.1 | 4.14 |
| 1936 | 14,970,000 | 435,861 | 240,879 | 194,982 | 29.1 | 16.1 | 13.0 | 4.09 |
| 1937[6] | 15,172,000 | 424,448 | 242,337 | 182,111 | 28.0 | 16.0 | 12.0 | 4.05 |
| 1938[7] | 15,384,000 | 411,381 | 240,303 | 171,078 | 26.7 | 15.6 | 11.1 | 4.01 |
| 1939[8] | 15,596,000 | 403,938 | 233,196 | 170,742 | 25.9 | 15.0 | 10.9 | 3.96 |
| 1940 | 15,811,000 |
Marriages and divorces (1919–1940)
| Average population | Marriages | Divorces | Crude marriage rate (per 1000) | Crude divorce rate (per 1000) | Divorces per 1000 marriages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1919 | 11,706,957 | 225,605 | 19.3 | |||
| 1920 | 11,881,764 | 185,954 | 5,687 | 15.7 | 0.5 | 30.6 |
| 1921 | 12,059,178 | 157,055 | 6,720 | 13.0 | 0.6 | 42.8 |
| 1922 | 12,239,245 | 131,776 | 6,548 | 10.8 | 0.5 | 49.7 |
| 1923 | 12,421,997 | 129,796 | 6,492 | 10.4 | 0.5 | 50.0 |
| 1924 | 12,607,480 | 114,896 | 5,508 | 9.1 | 0.4 | 47.9 |
| 1925 | 12,795,732 | 123,005 | 5,481 | 9.6 | 0.4 | 44.6 |
| 1926 | 12,986,796 | 124,249 | 4,940 | 9.6 | 0.4 | 39.8 |
| 1927 | 13,180,709 | 124,104 | 5,254 | 9.4 | 0.4 | 42.3 |
| 1928 | 13,377,523 | 121,334 | 5,580 | 9.1 | 0.4 | 46.0 |
| 1929 | 13,577,272 | 128,120 | 6,070 | 9.4 | 0.4 | 47.4 |
| 1930 | 13,780,006 | 138,322 | 5,826 | 10.0 | 0.4 | 42.1 |
| 1931 | 13,982,000 | 126,072 | 6,393 | 9.0 | 0.5 | 50.7 |
| 1932 | 14,174,000 | 111,059 | 5,231 | 7.8 | 0.4 | 47.1 |
| 1933 | 14,369,000 | 111,503 | 5,500 | 7.8 | 0.4 | 49.3 |
| 1934 | 14,566,000 | 99,704 | 5,520 | 6.8 | 0.4 | 55.4 |
| 1935 | 14,767,000 | 110,129 | 5,561 | 7.5 | 0.4 | 50.5 |
| 1936 | 14,970,000 | 109,528 | 5,022 | 7.3 | 0.3 | 45.9 |
| 1937 | 15,172,000 | 117,717 | 6,547 | 7.8 | 0.4 | 55.6 |
| 1938 | 15,384,000 | 121,605 | 6,466 | 7.9 | 0.4 | 53.2 |
| 1939 | 15,596,000 | 123,817 | 7,103 | 7.9 | 0.5 | 57.4 |
| 1940 | 15,811,000 |
Languages
The following data, grouped by first language, is from the 1921 population census:
- Serbo-Croatian: 8,911,509 (74.4%)
- Serbs, Macedonian Slavs and Montenegrins: 44.6%
- Croats: 23.5%
- Muslims of Yugoslavia: 6.3%
- Slovene: 1,019,997 (8.5%)
- German: 505,790 (4.2%)
- Hungarian: 467,658 (3.9%)
- Albanian: 439,657 (3.7%)
- Romanian: 231,068 (1.9%)
- Turkish: 150,322 (1.3%)
- Czech and Slovak: 115,532 (1.0%)
- Ruthenian: 25,615 (0.2%)
- Russian: 20,568 (0.2%)
- Polish: 14,764 (0.1%)
- Italian: 12,553 (0.1%)
- Others: 69,878 (0.6%)[9][10]
Based on language, the Yugoslavs (collectively Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and other South-Slavic groups in the kingdom) constituted 82.9% of the country's population.
