Serb

Demographics

Serb diaspora consist of ethnic Serbs and their descendants living predominantly in Europe and, to a much lesser extent, overseas. There is a particularly large Serb diaspora in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), while significant overseas communities exist in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Serb emigration has occurred in several distinct and massive waves over the past century and a half. The first major wave began in the late 19th century and continued until the outbreak of the World War II. It was almost entirely economic in character and drew people from the poorest and most inaccessible regions: Herzegovina, Montenegro, Lika, Dalmatian Hinterland. The second wave was much smaller but politically sharp and took place immediately after the World War II, when the victory of Yugoslav Partisan forces forced tens of thousands of defeated soldiers (mainly members of the royalist Chetnik movement) to flee the new communist Yugoslavia to the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, and, to a lesser degree, the United Kingdom and France. By far the largest wave was the exodus that began in the mid-1960s and lasted until the late 1980s - this generation of diaspora is collectively known as gastarbajteri, after German gastarbeiter ("guest worker"), since most of the emigrants headed for German-speaking countries. The fourth wave, during the 1990s, was the most dramatic: the breakup of Yugoslavia and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars drove hundreds of thousands of Serbs from their homes in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. At the same time, the rump Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) suffered hyperinflation, international sanctions, economic collapse, and finally the NATO bombing of 1999. Many headed to Canada, Australia, and the traditional European destinations, but new countries such as Norway, Denmark, and even New Zealand, also appeared on the map of Serb emigration.