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 ...

() began migrating to Sweden in large numbers in the 1960s, as part of the migrant work-agreement signed with the Yugoslav government to help Sweden overcome its severe labour

shortage In economics, a shortage or excess demand is a situation in which the demand for a product or service exceeds its supply in a market. It is the opposite of an excess supply ( surplus). Definitions In a perfect market (one that matches ...

. 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 ...

saw another influx of Serbs.

History

Serbs constituted a low percentage of the Swedish population prior to the 1960s. Some came after

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 ...

, mostly seeking

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

. The greatest proportion of Serbs came together with

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

and

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

under the visa agreements in times of severe labour shortages or when particular skills were deficient within Sweden, as

migrant workers A migrant worker is a person who Human migration, migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have an intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers ...

(called ''arbetskraftsinvandring'', see ''

gastarbeiter ; ; both singular and plural) are foreign or migrant workers, particularly those who had moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker program (). As a result, guestworkers are generally considered t ...

''). During the 1960s and 1970s, agreements were signed with the government of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

to help Sweden overcome its severe labour shortage. Bosnian and

Croatian Serbs The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Хрватски Срби, Hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in C ...

migrated in another wave during and after 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 ...

. A third wave, of

Kosovo Serbs Kosovo Serbs form the largest ethnic minority group in Kosovo (5–6%). The precise number of Kosovo Serbs is difficult to determine as they have boycotted national censuses. However, it is estimated that there are about 95,000 of them, nearly ...

, came during the

Kosovo war The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

in 1999.

Demographics

The Swedish census data includes country of birth, but does not include ethnicity, descendants or naturalized people, thus, the total number of ethnic Serbs in Sweden is hard to define. Various estimations include: 80,000; 110,000; 120,000; and 140,000. Aco Dragićević, writing for the Swedish-Serbian newspaper ''Dijaspora'', wrote in 2002 that some 200,000 Yugoslavs, regardless of ethnic origin, migrated to Sweden during the

Second 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 ...

(1945-1992); of these, roughly 40% (ca. 80,000) he believed to be Serbs.

Culture

Language

The Serbs in Sweden are

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

. The Serbian language is a rich contributor to the so-called

Rinkeby Swedish Rinkeby Swedish (, ) is any of a number of varieties of Swedish spoken mainly in urban districts with a high proportion of immigrant residents which emerged as a linguistic phenomenon in the 1980s. Rinkeby in Stockholm is one such suburb, but t ...

, a

sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acquisit ...

(

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

) of the

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the G ...

Religion

In 1972, the first Serbian Orthodox parish (of ''St. Nicholas'') was formed in

Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...

, prior to the forming the Serbs were headed by Swedish Orthodox priest Christofer Klasson, previously priest in the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

. Later, the same year a parish was formed in Malmö (of ''Saints Cyrils and Methodius'') and in 1973 one in Stockholm (of ''

Saint Sava Saint Sava (, ; Old Church Slavonic: ; Glagolitic: ; ; 1169 or 1174 – 14 January 1235/6), known as the Enlightener or the Illuminator, was a Serbs, Serbian prince and Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox monk, abbot of Studenica Monastery, Studeni ...

''). Later, parishes have been formed in Göteborg (of '' Stefan Decanski''), Jönköping (of ''

Nativity of Mary The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Mary, Marymas or the Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus. The modern Biblical canon does not record Mary's birth. The ...

''), Helsingborg (of ''St Basil the Great'') and one more in Stockholm. The parishes have their own head-priest. In Malmö in 1982, the Church of Saint Cyril and Methodius was opened, the first Serbian church in Sweden. The parish of Saint Sava opened its church in Enskede, in 1983, the parish in Göteborg also has a church. The parish in Malmö suffered several attacks in 1990, the premises were firebombed but the church was not damaged, the perpetrators were racist youths who were later convicted of

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

. The SOC has parishes and churches in the cities of: *

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

(2) **Church of Saint Sava *

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 69,948 inhabitants in 2020, with a total population of 107,806 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Holy Stefan Decanski
church *

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat o ...

Kristianstad Kristianstad ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Kristianstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 41,198 inhabitants in 2023. Since the 1990s, the city has gone from being a garrison town to a developed commercial city, ...

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

Holy Basil the Great
church *

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

**Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius *Laholm **Smedjeryd monastery

Music

Stockholm-based Östblocket and Macedonian-Swedish Andra Generationen are both

Balkan Brass Band Balkan brass, popularly known by the Serbian name ''Truba'' ( sr-Cyrl, Труба, "Trumpet"), is a distinctive style of music originating in the Balkan region as a fusion between military music and folk music. In recent years, it has become p ...

s, playing a

musical style Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

from southern

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 ...

Sport

Swedish Serbs have been very successful in sports, among most notable are The Stockholm Eagles is a Serbian-Swedish basketball team that has become very successful since its establishment in 2007. They won the Swedish second league (Basketettan) back to back 2011 and 2012 and became the only team in Sweden to win 34 victories in a row.

Notable people

;Sports * Dalibor Doder, handball player *

Bojan Djordjic Bojan Djordjic (, ; ; born 6 February 1982) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a winger. Starting off his career with IF Brommapojkarna in the late 1990s, Djordjic soon joined Manchester United, with which he was named t ...

, footballer ( AIK,

champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

09'), Serbian-born *

Alexander Kačaniklić Alexander Kačaniklić ( sr-Cyrl, Александар Качаниклић; ; ; born 13 August 1991) is a Swedish former professional association football, footballer. He normally operated as a Midfielder#Winger, winger but could also play as a ...

, football player, paternal descent *

Alexander Milošević Goran Alexander Sjöström Milošević (, sr-Cyrl, Александaр Милошевић; born 30 January 1992) is a Swedish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), centre back for club Po ...

, football player, Serbian father * Dusan Djuric, footballer (

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

09') *

Zoran Lukić Zoran Lukić ( sr-cyr, Зоран Лукић; born 27 November 1956) is a Swedish association football, football manager and a former player. Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time part of Yugoslavia, Lukić had a long career in FK Sarajev ...

, football manager (

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

02' and 03'), Bosnian-born *

Daniel Majstorović Daniel Majstorović (born 5 April 1977) is a Swedish former footballer who played as a centre back. He started his career with IF Brommapojkarna in his native Sweden. After a year with the club, he moved to German side SC Fortuna Köln in 1997, ...

, footballer (

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

08') * Marko Mitrović, footballer *

Nebojša Novaković Nebojša Novaković ( sr-Cyrl, Небојша Новаковић, born 29 October 1964) is a former professional football player who played as a striker, most notably for AIK. He is the manager of Vasalunds IF. Born in Sarajevo, he moved to S ...

, former footballer-assistant manager ( AIK, champion 98'), Bosnian-born * Nikola Pasic, ice hockey player, Serbian parents * Peter Popovic, ice hockey player (NHL;

Canadiens French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the provi ...

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

Penguins Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

and

Bruins Bruin, (from Dutch for "brown"), is an English folk term for brown bear. Bruin, Bruins or BRUIN may also refer to: Places * Lake Bruin, ox-bow lake of the Mississippi River located in northeastern Louisiana ** Lake Bruin State Park * Bruin, K ...

), Serbian parents *

Rade Prica Rade Stanislav Prica (born 30 June 1980) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the only player who has won league championships in the three Scandinavian countries – Sweden, Denmark and Norway. He also play ...

, footballer (Danish Superliga Top scorer: 06–07', Norwegian Premier League Top scorer: 09'), Serb father *

Danijela Rundqvist Danijela Kristina Rundqvist (born 26 September 1984) is a Swedish retired ice hockey player and three time Olympian with the Swedish national ice hockey team. Playing career Rundqvist plays hockey at the forward position. She was trained in ...

, ice hockey player (Olympic Silver 2006, Bronze 2002), Kosovo Serb mother * Stefan Selaković, footballer (

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

07') * Dragan Umicevic, ice hockey player (NHL;

Oilers Oiler may refer to: Ships * Replenishment oiler * Oil tanker Sports * Cape Breton Oilers, a former American Hockey League team * City Oilers, Ugandan basketball team * Edmonton Oilers, a National Hockey League team based in Edmonton, Alberta, C ...

), Bosnian-born *

Ljubomir Vranjes Ljubomir Vranjes (born 3 October 1973) is a Swedish handball coach and former player who competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He is currently the sporting director of German team SG Flensburg-Handewitt. He was inducted into the EHF Hall of Fam ...

, handball player and multiple champion *

Tanja Kostić Tanja Kostić (; born November 10, 1972) is a Swedish retired women's basketball player best known for playing with the Oregon State Beavers from 1993 to 1996. She won a EuroLeague Women in 1998 with CJM Bourges Basket. Early life Kostic was b ...

, basketball player *

Robert Kronberg Leif Robert Kronberg (born August 15, 1976 in Göteborg, Västra Götaland) is a Sweden, Swedish male hurdler of Serbian descent. He finished 8th in the 110m hurdles final at the 2000 Olympics. He competed again in the 2004 Olympics, reaching the ...

, hurdler, Serbian mother * Susanne Nilsson, football player ;TV and Music *

Alina Devecerski Alina Natalie Devecerski (born 27 March 1983) is a Swedish pop singer from Sundbyberg. She is managed by Anders Johansson and signed to EMI Sweden. At age 19, she started singing in a girl band. She has also written songs for many other artis ...

, singer, Serbian father *

Oscar Dronjak Oscar Fredrick Dronjak (born 20 January 1972) is a Swedish guitarist and founder of the power metal band HammerFall. Prior to the success of HammerFall, he also played and released albums with the death metal acts Ceremonial Oath and Crystal Age ...

, guitarist of power-metal band HammerFall *

Katerina Kazelis Katerina Kazelis (born 4 March 1977) is a Swedish singer and '' Big Brother 2011'' housemate. Biography ''Big Brother'' Before entering the ''Big Brother'' house on 20 February 2011 Kazelis of Serbian and Greek descent was a school teacher. Sh ...

, singer, Serbian mother *

Dragomir Mrsic Dragomir Mrsic (born 2 October 1969), nicknamed Gago is a Serbian-Swedish actor, sports consultant and sports leader. Life and career Mrsic was born in the Rasavci village near Prijedor, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, to father Momir and ...

, actor, Bosnian-born *

Jovan Radomir Jovan Radomir (born 8 September 1963) is a Serbian-Swedish television presenter, best known for presenting music programmes for Sveriges Television (SVT). His family's origin is Bosnian Serb. He has also worked as an actor, author and lyricist. ...

, Swedish television presenter * Michaela Savić, Swedish beauty pageant titleholder and model *

Sven Stojanović Sven Nikola Stojanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Свен Никола Стојановић; born 14 November 1969) is a Sweden, Swedish director of Serbs, Serb descent mostly involved with Swedish TV productions, notably Melodifestivalen. Stojanović ...

, television director, directed several Eurovision Song Contest *

Nikola Šarčević Nikola Šarčević (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Шарчевић; born 9 July 1974, Örebro) is a Swedish musician of Serbian origin. He is the bassist, vocalist, and primary songwriter for the Swedish punk rock band Millencolin and also h ...

, punk rock musician ;Other * Dragan Joksović, crime boss *

Ratko Đokić Ratko "Cobra" Đokić ( sr-Cyrl, Paткo Ђокић; died 2003) was a Montenegrin-Sweden, Swedish Serbian mafia, mob boss, a leader of the so-called "Yugo Mafia" or ''Yugoslavian Serb mafia in Scandinavia, Brotherhood'', composed of Yugoslavs in Sw ...

, crime boss

References

External links

Association of Serbs in Sweden

Diaspora, Swedish-Serb organisation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Serbs In Sweden Serbian Orthodox Church in Sweden

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 ...