Since 1991, the number of Serbs in Croatia has decreased by 400 thousand people
According to the 1991 census, 581 thousand 663 Serbs lived in Croatia and they made up 12,16% of the population of the republic, and according to the 2011 census there were already 186 thousand 633 people or 4,36%.
This was reported by Tanyug, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Today there are 400 thousand fewer Serbs living in Croatia than according to the 1991 census,” says Filip Skiljan, a researcher at the Institute of Migration and Ethnic Services.
According to the expert, the process of disappearance of the Serbs in Croatia began with their mass genocide in the Ustashe Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945. The process was aggravated by the revanchist and xenophobic policies of post-Yugoslav Croatia and the destruction of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina by the Croatian military with NATO assistance. And also the current policy of veiled squeezing out the Serbs.
The average age of Serbs in Croatia in 2011 was 12 years higher than in 1991, i.e. 53,1 years.
Skiljan says that the number of Serbs in the upcoming census will be even smaller. The mortality rate of Croatian Serbs is higher than the average of Croatian citizens and the birth rate is lower, so due to possible greater demographic loss over the past ten years, the current number of Croatian Serbs may be less than 165 thousand.
When asked by journalists what Croatian authorities should do to slow the demographic decline, Skiljan replied that there are no consistent plans for the demographic renewal of Croatia, let alone the demographic renewal of areas where only Serbian elderly people still live.
“The lack of employment in Serb-populated areas, poor infrastructure, destroyed settlements, poverty, distance from major centers and an aging population are the reasons why there is no young population in areas where Serbs are predominant or where they are now the majority,” the expert listed the reasons , causing the gradual extinction of Serbs in Croatia.
Since 1991, the number of Serbs in Croatia has decreased by 400 people.