Serb diaspora ( sr, Српска дијаспора/Srpska dijaspora) refers to the diaspora communities of ethnic

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

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

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

. Due to generalization in

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

es outside

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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 region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...

, 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 b ...

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

. At this time, members of royalist

Chetniks The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royali ...

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

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

) 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. * 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 is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and to a lesser extent

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. 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 (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

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 Jovovich; sr-Latn, Milica Bogdanovna Jovović; russian: Милица Богдановна Йовович; uk, Милиця Богданoвна Йовович ( ; born December 17, 1975), known professionally as Milla Jovo ...

* Stana Katic *

Karl Malden Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun aut ...

* Bojana Novakovic *

Holly Valance Holly Rachel Candy (; born 11 May 1983), known professionally as Holly Valance, is an Australian actress and singer. Valance began her acting career on the Australian soap opera '' Neighbours'', as Felicity Scully (1999–2002, 2005, 2022). S ...

Natasha Stankovic Natasha (russian: Наташа) is a name of Slavic origin. The Slavic name is the diminutive form of Natalia. Notable people * Natasha, the subject of '' Natasha's Story'', a 1994 nonfiction book * Natasha Aguilar (1970–2016), Costa Rican s ...

;Artists and designers * Roksanda Ilincic ;Beauty pageants and models * Tijana Arnautović * Myriam Klink * Veruska Ljubisavljević * Romina Mattar *

Monika Radulovic Monika Radulovic; sr, Моника Радуловић, Monika Radulović (born 20 September 1990, in Zavidovići) is a Bosnian-born Serbian Australian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Australia 2015 and repre ...

;Military people *

Pierre Marinovitch Pierre Marinovitch ( sr, Petar Marinović; 1 August 1898 – 2 October 1919) was a French World War I flying ace credited with 21 confirmed and 3 probable aerial victories. He was the youngest French flying ace of the war, scoring his 5th vi ...

Mikhail Miloradovich Count Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich (russian: Граф Михаи́л Андре́евич Милора́дович, sh-Cyrl, Гроф Михаил Андрејевић Милорадовић ''Grof Mihail Andrejević Miloradović''; – ...

Peter Tekeli Peter Tekeli (russian: Петр Авраамович Текели, Serbian: Петар Поповић Текелија or ''Petar Popović Tekelija'',''Popović'' is often omitted. hu, Tököly-Popovics Péter) (1720–1792) was a Russian gener ...

* Marko Ivanovich Voinovich *

Matija Zmajevic Matija is a South Slavic masculine and feminine given name, a variant of Matthew. Notable people with the name include: * Matija Ahacel (1779–1845), Carinthian Slovene philologist, publicist, and collector of folk songs * Matija Antun Relković ...

;Musicians * Alex Lifeson *

Alexander Zonjic Alexander Zonjic (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Зоњић; born April 30, 1951) is a flutist born in Windsor, Ontario, who performs both light jazz and classical compositions in the United States, based in Detroit, Michigan. He is the s ...

* Luigi von Kunits * Lene Lovich ;Politicians * Claudia Pavlovich Arellano * Sokollu Mehmed Pasha * Sava Vladislavich *

George Voinovich George Victor Voinovich (July 15, 1936June 12, 2016) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Ohio from 1999 to 2011, the 65th governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998 and the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989, the ...

;Scientists *

Mileva Marić Mileva Marić ( sr-cyr, Милева Марић; 19 December 1875 – 4 August 1948), sometimes called Mileva Marić-Einstein ( sr-cyr, Милева Марић-Ајнштајн, Mileva Marić-Ajnštajn), was a Serbian physicist and mathematician ...

* Mihajlo Pupin * Miodrag Radulovacki *

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 1856 – 7 January 1943 ...

;Sportspeople * Jelena Dokic * Milan Lucic * Pete Maravich * Kristina Mladenovic *

Milan Vučićević Milan Vučićević ( sr-cyr, Милан Вучићевић; born July 20, 1985), also known by his online pseudonym Nichim Izazvan, is a Serbian marketing consultant and former professional basketball player. Vučićević has played professional ...

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; sr, Данијел Нестор, Danijel Nestor; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Nestor won 91 men's doubles titles (with 11 different partners), including an Olympic gold medal a ...

* Andrea Petkovic * Gregg Popovich *

Milos Raonic Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the ...

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

* Danijel Šarić *

Milan Trajkovic Milan Trajković ( sr, Милан Трајковић, el, Μίλαν Τράικοβιτς, born 17 March 1992 in Surdulica) is a Serbian-born Cypriot athlete specialising in the sprint hurdles. He has won two gold medals at the Games of the Small ...

* James Trifunov *

Bill Vukovich William John Vukovich Sr. (; December 13, 1918 – May 30, 1955) was an American automobile racing driver of Serbian descent. He won the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500, plus two more American Automobile Association National Championship races, a ...

* Gisela Dulko *

Víctor Manuel Vucetich Víctor Manuel Vucetich Rojas (born 25 June 1955) is a Mexican professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Liga MX club Monterrey. With a career spanning more than thirty years, Vucetich is one of the most d ...

* Luka Dončić ;Writers * Charles Simic * Steve Tesich *

Vladimir Voinovich Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Войно́вич, 26 September 1932 – 27 July 2018), was a Russian writer and former Soviet dissident, and the "first genuine comic writer" produced by the S ...

;Other *

Nick Vujicic Nicholas James Vujicic ( ; born 4 December 1982) is an Australian American Christian evangelist and motivational speaker of Serbian descent, born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterised by the absence of arms and legs. Earl ...

Notes

References

Sources