Southern and Eastern Serbia

Southern and Eastern Serbia Јужна и источна Србија Južna i istočna Srbija
—  Statistical region of Serbia  —
Location of Southern and Eastern Serbia in Serbia
Country	Serbia
Largest city	Niš
Population (2011 census)
• Total	1,551,268
Districts	9

Southern and Eastern Serbia (Serbian: Јужна и источна Србија, Južna i istočna Srbija) is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. It was formed in 2010.

Formation

In July 2009, the Serbian parliament adopted a law which divided Serbia into seven statistical regions. At first, it was decided that in the territory of current statistical region of Southern and Eastern Serbia there would be two statistical regions - Eastern Region (Serbian: Istočni region / Источни регион) and Southern Region (Serbian: Južni region / Јужни регион). However, in May 2010, the law was changed, thus the Eastern and Southern region were merged into a single statistical region named Southern and Eastern Serbia.

History

In ancient times, this area was part of the Moesia Superior, which was a province of the Roman Empire. Niš (Naissus) was the main city in this province. In the 11th century, Duchy of Niš was a province of the Byzantine Empire.

Medieval Serbian state included part of this region in the 12th century and most of it until the 14th century. In 1162, župan Desa was ruler around Niš. Since the 15th century, the region was under Ottoman administration. Between 1791 and 1878, Pashaluk of Niš was a province of the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, this territory became part of Serbia once again. Initially, resurrected Serbian state included only northern parts of the region, but it was later (in 1878) expanded to the south and also included southern parts.

Between 1922 and 1929, several administrative units of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes existed in this area: Province of Niš (Niška Oblast), Province of Vranje (Vranjska Oblast), Province of Timok (Timočka Oblast), Province of Požarevac (Požarevačka Oblast), and Province of Podunavlje (Podunavska Oblast). Between 1929 and 1941, most of this area was part of the Morava Banovina (a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). Capital city of this province was Niš.

Between 1945 and 2009, the area was part of the Central Serbia.

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups in Southern and Eastern Serbia (2011 census):

Ethnic group	Number	Percent
Serbs	1,393,673	89.11%
Roma	57,239	3.66%
Vlachs	32,873	2.1%
Bulgarians	15,501	0.99%
Total	1,563,916	100%

Districts

The statistical region of Southern and Eastern Serbia is composed of 9 administrative districts:

District	Area (km²)	Population (2002 Census)	Population (2011 Census)	Administrative Capital
Podunavlje	1,250	210,290	199,395	Smederevo
Braničevo	3,865	200,503	183,625	Požarevac
Bor	3,510	146,551	124,992	Bor
Zaječar	3,623	137,561	119,967	Zaječar
Nišava	2,727	381,757	376,319	Niš
Pirot	2,761	105,654	92,479	Pirot
Toplica	2,229	102,075	91,754	Prokuplje
Jablanica	2,770	240,923	216,304	Leskovac
Pčinja	3,520	227,690	159,081	Vranje
Source: Statistical Office of Serbia

Cities and towns

The largest cities and towns of the region are:

City or town	Population (2002 Census)	Population (2011 Census)
Niš	173,724	183,164
Smederevo	62,805	64,175
Leskovac	63,185	60,288
Vranje	55,052	55,138
Požarevac	41,736	44,183
Pirot	40,678	38,785
Zaječar	39,491	38,165
Bor	39,387	34,160
Prokuplje	27,673	27,333
Smederevska Palanka	25,300	23,601

See also

• Morava Banovina
• Pomoravlje (geographical region)
• Timočka Krajina

External links

• Usvojene izmene i dopune Zakona o regionalnom-razvoju (in Serbian)