Population

Today, these two Republics have been based on the powerful minorities who had shaped the culture. Serbs represented only 73% population in Republic of Serbia and Montenegrins 61% in their Republic. The other constituents of the population have been among Hungarians (in Backa), Bulgarians, Bosnians (in Sadzak), Romanians (in Banat) and Slovaks, but the communities of Gipsies, Vlachs, Turks and Egyptians also exist. No less than 26 different nationalities in Serbia. The first reason for this mixture there was a historical one. Today the minorities have been represented at all political and economic levels. An example have been the Hungarians of Vojvodina. In the towns and villages where they make a numerous majority they have got their own schools, their own administrations and courts of law. In the provincial Parliament their deputies have been participating in their own language, the exchanges spread through the government media in Hungarian. This had not considered sufficient by the most radical, and a flag and the hymn of Vojvodina have been in effect for two years. This politics of the positive discrimination could be returned against itself since the Serbs and Montenegrins of this province had been placed into the second rank citizens.

Another important stake there has been in the question of refugees. Serbia-Montenegro had received more than 700 000 refugees on 10 million population since the 1990s wars. They were mainly Serbs from Krajina and from Kosmet, but also the Gipsies, the Bosnians and the Albanians. They had mainly been received by the relatives, but many of them are still living in the refugee centres, they are decrepit and without heating. The situation has been so alarming that Red Cross had demanded from the Federal Government to allocate extra-budget funding for the 2003-2004 winter. The last problem to be settled within a European integration has been the minorities situation in the province of Kosovo-Metohija. The registration carried out by UNMIK two years ago showed that in spite of the ethnical purification led by UCK, in this province remained still 150,000 Serbs and a rather great number of Turks, Bosnians and Gipsies. They had been licensed by the till now controlled by UNMIK great firms and their political representation has continually been weakening.

RELIGIONS

Serbia is a multi-confessional state with a tendency to preserve the complex palette of the present religions. The Ottoman Empire had designated this aspect of the social life. In fact, the vilayet system – the autonomous regions from the viewpoint of confessions and administration had allowed the progress of the confession coming from far away. The Egyptian Copts still have a church and the representatives. The communists, on the contrary to the adopted ideas, the creation of a Macedonian Patriarchy in 1954, the invention of a “Muslim” nationality in 1968 are the facts recognized by Tito and his Slovene ideologist Kardelj.

- the orthodoxy: religion of the majority of serbian population 

It was the only way for Serbs to preserve their language and their heritage during six centuries so they consider it as a basic aspect of their culture. The adult baptism has been myriad because there is a tendency to make up for the time lost under communism, and the voluntary associations which collect money for the churches are very actives. Sometimes the personalities from the milieu of sports or the economics give the donations like the basket ball player Bodiroga for the monastery of Djurdjevi Stupovi.

- the Catholicisme : represented by numerous and various communities Hungarians, Croats and Ruthenes of Vojvodina who have practiced their religion in a good concordance with others orthodox peoples. More Southern the 20% Christian Albanians have been attached to the catholic rite sine XVII century.

- the Islam :  the next greatest religion in Serbia. The Muslims of Serbia have been partly the descendants of the Slavs being converted to the Islam after the arrival of the Ottomans. The sunnit (circumcision) obedience have been grouped in Montenegro and in Sandzak. They benefited a long time of the construction of numerous mosques realized by the Yugoslav State. They have been obedient to the mufti of Belgrade and joined generally the SDA Party. The Albanian Muslims have been less pious and have been viewing the Islam as a national identity, especially since the Milosevic period.

- the Protestantism: They Slovaks and the Germans of Vojvodina take the maintaining of their tradition as a point of honour, but demand nothing from the State. In the schools and villages the chorals, choruses and traditional feasts have been the occasions to be attached to their respective communities.