Cultural Legacy
The Serbs were believed to be a purely Slavic people who originated in the area around Ukraine. Some scholars now argue that the original Serbs and Croats were Central Asian Sarmatian nomads who entered Europe with the Huns in the 4th century of the common era (C.E.). The theory proposes that the Sarmatian Serbs settled in a land designated as White Serbia, in what is now Saxony and western Poland. The Sarmatian Serbs, it is argued, intermarried with the indigenous Slavs of the region, adopted their language and transferred their name to the Slavs. The issue of Slavic ethnicity and purity, however, continues to be a controversial topic, characterized by many opposing perspectives.
The Serbs' forefathers built a rich kingdom during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, then suffered under Ottoman occupation for 370 years (1459-1829). During the Ottoman era, the Serbian Orthodox Church preserved the Serbs' sense of nationhood and reinforced the collective memory of past glory. The church canonized medieval Serbian kings; fresco painters preserved their images; and priests recited a litany of their names at daily masses.
Until the nineteenth century, virtually all Serbs were peasants; the small percentage that lived in towns as traders and craftsmen wore Turkish costume and lived a Turkish lifestyle. Until the twentieth century, peasant Serbs lived mainly in extended families, with four or five nuclear families residing in the same house.
The independence movement of the nineteenth century brought significant cultural changes to the Serbs. During that century, the scholars Dositej Obradovic and Vuk Karadzic overcame stiff opposition from the Orthodox Church to foster creation of the modern Serbian literary language, which is based on the speech of the ordinary people. Karadzic adapted the Cyrillic alphabet to the form still used in the former Yugoslavia.
Under a unified Yugoslavia for much of the 20th century, Serbia often wielded the most power because of their sheer numbers. Indeed, the Serbs were Yugoslavia's most populous and most dispersed nationality. Thus, the demographic distribution and ethnic outlook of the Serbs exerted paramount influence on the shape of the modern Yugoslav state from the very beginning.
The Serbian political elite of the interwar Yugoslavia was extremely centralist and accustomed to wielding unshared power. On the eve of World War II, the Yugoslav Army officer corps and the civilian bureaucracy were dominated by Serbs (two Croats and two Slovenes were generals; the other 161 generals were either Serbs or Montenegrins). As such, Serbian hegemony in interwar Yugoslavia triggered a militant backlash in Croatia, Macedonia, and Kosovo. These animosities would have repercussions in the future.
By the late 1980s, a passionate Serbian nationali st revival arose from the post-war distribution of the Serbs among various Yugoslav political entities. In this process, the Serbian Orthodox Church reemerged as a strong cultural influence, and the government of Serbia renewed celebrations of the memories of Serbian heroes and deeds. These events caused leaders in places such as Croatia and Slovenia to fear a resurgence of the Serbian hegemony.
Cultural Demography
Today, Serbia has an estimated population of about 7.5 million, however, that all data dealing with population is subject to considerable error due to dislocations caused by military action and ethnic cleansing.
With this reality in mind, Serbs account for approximately 63 percent of the population; Albanians - about 16 percent, Montenegrins - 5 percent, Hungarians - 3.3 percent, other Slavic peoples - 3.4 percent and others 9.3 percent. Among the non-specified population is the Roma (Gypsy) people, as well as Bosniaks.
Note: These percentages, however, reflect the population for unified Serbia and Montenegro and so, they must be viewed in the context of population changed derived from Montenegrin independence in 2006.
In terms of religious affiliation, 65 percent of the populace is Orthodox; 19 percent is Muslim. Roman Catholics and Protestants account for five percent and 11 percent of the populace expressed a myriad other religions.
While Serbian is the predominant and official language, Albanian is also spoken by some of the citizens. As well, Hungarian, Bosniak, Ukrainian, Croatian, Romanian and Romany (Gypsy) are also spoken languages in Serbia.
People born in Serbia are expected to have a life expectancy of 70 years for males, 76 years for females, according to recent estimates. The literacy rate is averaged at 93 percent.
About 4.7 percent of GDP is spent in the country on educational expenditures. About 9.9 percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures. Access to sanitation, water, and health care is considered to be generally good.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief,
www.countrywatch.com; see Bibliography for research sources.