Serbian diaspora

There are currently more than 3.5 million Serbs in diaspora throughout the world (those that are not constitutional peoples; like in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in this case). The Serbian diaspora was the consequence of either voluntary departure, coercion and/or forced migrations or expulsions that occurred in six large waves:

1. To the west and north, caused mostly by the Ottoman Turks.
2. To the east (Czechoslovakia, Russia and Ukraine) from World War I, until the fall of Communism in 1990.
3. To North America (United States and Canada), Australia, New Zealand due to economic migration.
4. During wartime, particularly World War II and post-war political migration, predominantly into overseas countries (large waves of Serbians and other Yugoslavians into the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).
5. Going abroad for temporary work as "guest workers" and "resident aliens" who stayed in their new homelands during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s (to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom), however some Serbians returned to Yugoslavia in the 1980s.
6. Escaping from the uncertain situation (1991–1995) caused by the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the renewal of vicious ethnic conflicts and civil war, as well as by the disastrous economic crises, which largely affected the educated or skilled labor forces (i.e. "brain drain"), increasingly migrated to Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.

The existence of the centuries-old Serbian populations in countries such as Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine, is the result of historical circumstances – the migrations to the North and the East, due to the Turkish conquests of the Balkans and as a result of politics, especially when the Communist Party came into power, but even more when the communist state of Yugoslavia collapsed into inter-ethnic conflict, resulting in mass expulsions of people from certain regions as refugees of war. Although some members of the Serbian diaspora do not speak Serbian or practice religion, they are still traditionally regarded as Serbs or Serbians rather than Yugoslavs.

Regions with significant Serbian populations

Geographical distribution of Serbians

Country	Number of Serbs
Germany	424,037 (2005)
Austria	300,000 (2008)
Switzerland	186,000 (2008)
United States	172,874 (2010)
Australia	96,895 (2006)
Sweden	120,000 (2008)
France	70,000 to 100,000
Italy	78.174 (2004)
Slovenia	38,964 (2002)
United Kingdom	31,244 (2005)
Romania	22,518 (2002)
Netherlands	15,500
Norway	12,500 (2006)
Denmark	12,000 (2001)
Greece	10,000 (2001)
Luxembourg	7,923 (2008)
Hungary	7,350
Spain	4,392 (2006)
Turkey	4,600
Russia	4,156 (2002)
Finland	3000
Brazil	3,210 (2001)
Belgium	1,857 (2008)
Czech Republic	1,801 (2001)
New Zealand	1176
Poland	381 (2001)
Slovakia	134 (2001)
United Arab Emirates	1,000 (2007)
China	41
Chile	25(2008)

Serbian diaspora in Australia

• See Serbian Australian

Serbian diaspora in Canada

• See Serbian Canadians

Serbian diaspora in the United Kingdom

• See Serbian British

Serbian diaspora in the United States

• George Fisher
• Nikola Tesla
• Rod Blagojevich (Former Governor of Illinois)
• Mitchell Melich (Utah State Senate)
• George Voinovich (US Senator - Ohio)
• Helen Delich Bentley (Former Maryland Congresswoman)
• Melissa Bean (US Congresswoman - Illinois)
• Rose Ann Vuich (First woman elected to California Senate)

Serbian American war veterans

• Serbian-American volunteers (1917)
• Serb Chetniks Rescue U.S. Pilots during WWII
• Mitchell Paige (Colonel USMC)
• Lance Sijan (Captain USAF)
• Butch Verich (Commander USN)
• Mele "Mel" Vojvodich (Major General USAF)

Serbian diaspora organizations

• Serbian Youth League
• Serbian Unity Congress
• Serbian National Defense Council of America
• Serbian Council of Great Britain

References

a.	^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The latter declared independence on 17 February 2008, while Serbia claims it as part of its own sovereign territory. Its independence is recognised by 86 UN member states.

External links

• USA SERBS ,Serbian-American Network
• Ministry for Diaspora, Serbia
• Srbi u svetu Jedinstvena baza podataka o Srbima i srpskim organizacijama širom sveta
• Serb World USA
• Tesla Forum of Western Australia Inc.
• Serbs in Arizona
• Serbs in Los Angeles
• Serbs in the Netherlands