Serb diaspora () refers to the diaspora communities of ethnic

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

. It is not to be confused with the Serbian diaspora, which refers to migrants, regardless of ethnicity, from

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. Due to generalization in

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

es outside

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

to exclude ethnicity, the total number of the Serb diaspora population cannot be known by certainty. It is estimated that 2–3 million Serbs live outside former Yugoslavia.

Migrational waves

There were several waves of Serb emigration: * First wave took place since the end of 19th century and lasted until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was caused by economic reasons; particularly large numbers of Serbs (mainly from peripheral ethnic areas such as

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

, and

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...

) emigrated to the United States. * Second wave took place after the end of the

. At this time, members of royalist

Chetniks The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...

and other political opponents of communist regime fled the country mainly going overseas (

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

) and, to a lesser degree,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. * Third, and by far the largest wave, was economic emigration started in the 1960s when several Western European countries signed bilateral agreements with Yugoslavia allowing the recruitment of industrial workers to those countries, and lasted until the end of the 1980s. Main destinations were

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and to a lesser extent

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. That generation of diaspora is collectively known as ''gastarbajteri'', after German '' gastarbeiter'', "guest-worker", since most of the emigrants headed for German-speaking countries. * Most recent emigration took place during the 1990s, and was caused by both political and economic reasons. The

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

caused many Serbs from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to leave their countries in the first half of the 1990s. The international economic sanctions imposed on Serbia caused economic collapse with an estimated 300,000 people leaving Serbia during that period, 20% of which had a higher education.

Serb diaspora by states

Notable people

The list include Serbs born abroad, people of full or partial Serbian descent and immigrants from Serbia or Serbian native communities who made significant career abroad. ;Actors * Sasha Alexander *

Milla Jovovich Milica Bogdanovna Jovović; ; ( ; born December 17, 1975), known professionally as Milla Jovovich (), is an American actress and former fashion model. Her starring roles in numerous science fiction film, science-fiction and action films led th ...

* Stana Katic *

Karl Malden Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American stage, movie and television actor who first achieved acclaim in the original Broadway productions of Arthur Miller's '' All My Sons'' and Tennessee Will ...

* Bojana Novakovic * Holly Valance * Natasha Stankovic ;Artists and designers * Roksanda Ilincic ;Beauty pageants and models *

Tijana Arnautović Tijana Petković ( sr-cyr, Тијана Петковић; born August 15, 1986), née Tijana Arnautović, is Bosnian Canadian beauty pageant titleholder and model who won the title of Miss Canada in 2004 and represented her country in Miss World ...

* Myriam Klink * Veruska Ljubisavljević * Romina Mattar * Monika Radulovic ;Military people * Pierre Marinovitch *

Mikhail Miloradovich Count Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich (, , ; – ), spelled Miloradovitch in contemporary English sources, was a Russian general prominent during the Napoleonic Wars. On his father’s side, Miloradovich descended from the Serb noble family ...

* Peter Tekeli * Marko Ivanovich Voinovich * Matija Zmajevic ;Musicians * Alex Lifeson * Alexander Zonjic * Luigi von Kunits *

Lene Lovich Lili-Marlene Premilovich (born March 30, 1949), known professionally as Lene Lovich ( ), is an American-British singer. She first gained attention in 1979 with the release of her hit single "Lucky Number", which peaked at number 3 on the UK Sin ...

;Politicians * Claudia Pavlovich Arellano * Sokollu Mehmed Pasha * Sava Vladislavich * George Voinovich ;Scientists * Mileva Marić * Mihajlo Pupin * Miodrag Radulovacki *

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla (;"Tesla"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 10 July 1856 – 7 ...

;Sportspeople * Jelena Dokic *

Milan Lucic Milan Lucic (; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played major junior career with the Vancouver ...

Pete Maravich Peter Press Maravich ( ; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. He starred in college at Louisiana State University's Tigers basketball team; his father, Press Mar ...

Kristina Mladenovic Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. Her best singles ranking is world No. 10. She is a nine-time Grand Slam ...

* Milan Vučićević *

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; ; born Danijel Nestorović, September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 108 weeks ( fifth-most ...

* Andrea Petkovic *

Gregg Popovich Gregg Charles Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American professional basketball executive and former coach who is the president for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the List of current NBA head co ...

Milos Raonic Milos Raonic ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP ...

* Alex Smith *

Velimir Stjepanović Velimir Stjepanović ( Serbian Cyrillic: Велимир Стјепановић; born 7 August 1993) is a Serbian professional swimmer currently representing DC Trident at the International Swimming League. He has won gold medals at the Europ ...

* Danijel Šarić * Milan Trajkovic * James Trifunov * Bill Vukovich *

Gisela Dulko Gisela Dulko (; born 30 January 1985) is an Argentine former tennis player. Although she enjoyed modest success in singles, reaching a career-high ranking of world No. 26 and winning four WTA Tour, WTA titles, her speciality was doubles, where s ...

* Víctor Manuel Vucetich * Luka Dončić *

Milan Borjan Milan Borjan ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Борјан; born 23 October 1987) is a professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Saudi Pro League club Al-Riyadh SC, Al-Riyadh. Born in ...

;Writers *

Charles Simic Dušan Simić ( sr-cyr, Душан Симић, ; May 9, 1938 – January 9, 2023), known as Charles Simic, was a Serbian American poet and poetry co-editor of ''The Paris Review''. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for '' The W ...

* Steve Tesich * Dejan Tiago-Stanković * Vladimir Voinovich ;Other * Nick Vujicic

Notes

References

Sources