How Many Serbs Are There?

The number of those who consider their national identity an intimate matter, a part of their history and tradition is decreasing, while there is a growing number of those who belong to a nation, and are rooters by mentality and character. Rooters like their team to win, and that is why they root for it. Members of a nation, just like rooters, rejoice in their nation's victories, in its greatness and singularity. Just like in the big clubs, the players play for money, fame, history and direct their rooters. Failure to control one's rooters, a control akin to walking the razor's edge, are frequent and the results catastrophic. The consequences of failing to control a nation are immeasurable.

Mass attendance is a prerequisite for rooting games. A nation which is turning into a camp of rooters needs to be as large as possible. Members of many nations in the territory of the former Yugoslavia are vying in stories on who has not been properly counted, their numbers, who "dominates", and who has the right to more sunshine.

The number of Serbs is practically known, but with a rooter's passion Vice-President of the Serb Republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina Biljana Plavsic and former President of the rump Yugoslavia Branko Kostic, leaders of a part of the Serbs, say on Television that 12 million Serbs support them, i.e., that they have that many rooters, and are consequently great players. This number is not correct but is often heard and quoted. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is more modest and boasts the support of ten million Serbs.

In these times of taking sides, all who have declared themselves Yugoslavs or Montenegrins, are considered by many to be Serbs, without any explanation being given. This adds up to nearly ten million Serbs. According to the last census, 8,500,000 people in the former Yugoslavia declared themselves as Serbs, which is 400,000 more than in the previous census. Serbs have not experienced a demographic explosion, but a number of former Yugoslavs decided to become Serbs. Not all Yugoslavs have joined the Serbian camp; the number of Croats and Moslems has also increased.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is now the state of over ten million inhabitants, 6,500,000 are Serbs, which is 65% of the population. The last elections divided the nation into "good" and "bad" Serbs. The "good" Serbs voted for the Serbian Socialist Party (SPS) and the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), while the "bad" ones voted for DEPOS (the Democratic Movement Of Serbia) and the Democratic Party (DS) and other "traitors". There were Serbs who did not vote, but if their number is divided proportionally according to the victory, one gets 3.8 million "good" Serbs and 2.8 million "bad" ones. All those who abstained from voting could be added to the "bad" ones, but then there would be more of them compared to the "good" ones.

There are Serbs outside the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and they are better known than those in the country. Nearly two million Serbs have remained outside the national state of the Serbs. The greatest number of them are in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The last census showed that there were nearly 1,400,000, or some 20% more than there are in Vojvodina.

It is true that some 300,000 citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were born in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Before all these wars they could have taken the citizenship of the state they originated from and so created an unbeatable voting machine, but they didn't.

The war has distorted the demographic picture of areas affected by shooting, killing and destruction. The world has divided Bosnia-Herzegovina into ten provinces to be governed by national parties: the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). In the SDS provinces there are 873,000 Serbs. These are provinces 2, 4, 6 and the mixed province number 7, under the Vance-Owen plan. That's the way it would be if over 700,000 were not refugees. It is difficult to imagine that any of these unfortunate people had really wanted things this way before the war started. But, had the Vance-Owen plan been signed and the war stopped, over 500,000 Serbs in the SDA and HDZ controlled provinces would be facing the problem of how to live with their neighbors.

A significant number of Serbs were registered in 1991, in the then Socialist Republic of Croatia - 580,762. The biggest Serbian town in Croatia was Zagreb with over 50,000 Serbs. Large concentrations of Serbs in Croatia were to be found in Sisak, Vinkovci, Osijek, Zadar... Many Serbs from Croatia have fled to Serbia, abroad, or to parts of Croatia controlled by Serbs, i.e. to the Republic of Serb Krajina.

Less than 200,000 Serbs have remained in the cradle of Serbian culture, in Kosovo and Metohij, as well as the army and police.