Demographics of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

For demographics of Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1992, see Demographics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

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".

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups in Yugoslavia according to the 1921 census

  Serbs and Croats

  Slovenes

  Albanians

  Hungarians

  Romanians

Ethnic groups in Yugoslavia according to the 1931 census

  Serbs

  Croats

  Slovenes

  Unexplained, Religion Islam

  Germans

  Romanians

  Shqiptar (Albanians)

  Bulgarians

  Turks

  Hungarians

Kingdom of Yugoslavia's ethnic structure, 1918^[1]

Ethnic group	Number	Percent
Serbs (including Montenegrins and some Macedonians)	4,665,851	38.8%
Croats	2,856,551	23.8%
Slovenes	1,024,761	8.5%
South Slavic Muslims	727,650	6.1%
Bulgarians[1] (including some Macedonians[2])	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[3] (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.)

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.

Religious groups

• Christian: 10,571,569 (88.2%)
  • Eastern Orthodox: 5,593,057 (46.7%)
  • Roman Catholic: 4,708,657 (39.3%)
  • Protestant: 229,517 (1.9%)
  • Greek Catholic: 40,338 (0.3%)
• Sunni Muslim: 1,345,271 (11.2%)
• Jewish: 64,746 (0.5%)
• others: 1,944 (nil%)
• atheists: 1,381 (nil%)^[9]

Class and occupation

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing – 78.9%
• Industry and handicrafts – 9.9%
• Banking, trade and traffic – 4.4%
• Public service, free profession and military – 3.8%
• Other professions – 3.1%^[11]

References

1. Banac, Ivo. The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics. Archived 2 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine Cornell University Press, 1988. pp. 49–53, 58. ISBN 978-0801494932
2. Per Banac himself, the Macedonians were "Bulgarians in the common struggle against Serbian and Greek hegemonism, but within the Bulgarian national project, they were increasingly becoming separate regional community." The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics. Cornell University Press, 1988. p. 327. ISBN 978-0801494932
3. RÉSULTATS DÉFINITIFS DU RECENSEMENT DE LA POPULATION DU 31 JANVIER 1921 (in Serbo-Croatian and French). Sarajevo: Opšta državna statistika. 1932. p. 3.
4. "2-1. Kretanje stanovništva 1921–1990 - Jugoslavija". Demografska statistika 1990 (PDF). Belgrade: Savezni zavod za statistiku. 1992. ISSN 0084-4357. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
5. "Statistical Yearbook of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia,1929" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
6. "Statistical Yearbook of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia,1937" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
7. "Statistical Yearbook of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia,1938-1939" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
8. "Statistical Yearbook of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia,1940" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
9. Group of Authors (1997). Istorijski atlas (1st ed.). Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva & Geokarta, Belgrade. p. 91. ISBN 8617055944.
10. ""Краљевина Југославија дефинитивни резултати пописа становништва од 21 јануара 1921 год.", Сарајево, Државна Штампарија, 1932". p. 3. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
11. Group of Authors (1997). Istorijski atlas (1st ed.). Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva & Geokarta, Belgrade. p. 86. ISBN 8617055944.