Demographic history of Vojvodina

Vojvodina's demographic history reflects its rich history and its former location at the border of the Ottoman and Habsburg empires and at the confluence of various peoples, making it a hotbed of invasion, colonization, and assimilation processes. Currently there are more than 25 ethnic groups living in Vojvodina and six official languages.

Demographic history
The area of Vojvodina had been inhabited since the Paleolithic period. Indo-European peoples moved into this area during three migration waves, which are dated in 4200 BC, 3300 BC, and 2800 BC respectively. Before the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC, Indo-European peoples of Illyrian, Thracian and Celtic origin inhabited the region.

During the Roman administration (which extended to Syrmia and Banat), the original inhabitants were heavily Romanized, and would later be known as Vlachs. The region of Bačka, which did not belong to the Roman Empire, was populated by Iranian Sarmatians (Iazyges). After the end of Roman rule, the Romanized inhabitants of the area escaped to the Balkan Mountains (where they mixed with South Slavs) as well as the Romanian Carpathians (where they later were known as Romanians).

Vojvodina was invaded by the Turanic nomads such as the Huns and Avars, as well as by the Germanic Goths, Gepids and Lombards, but after their military defeat, they were quickly absorbed by the local (Slavic) population, without leaving much ethnic traces in the region's population.

During the early medieval migrations, Slavs (Severans, Abodrites, Braničevci, Timočani and Serbs) settled today's Vojvodina in the 6th and 7th centuries. According to some sources, pockets of Romanized populations remained in the area. Until the Hungarian conquest in the 10th century, the region had a dominant Slavic population.

9th century
When Hungarians arrived to Central Europe (in 896), this region was populated exclusively by Slavs.

15th century
In the 15th century, according to opinion of various researchers, South Slavic (Serbian and Croatian) population was dominant in Syrmia and southern Banat, while Hungarian population was dominant in Bačka and northern Banat. According to Hungarian author Károly Kocsis, 194,000 inhabitants might have been living on the present-day territory of Vojvodina in 1495. That number was calculated on the basis of work of Kubinyi, A. (1966), who processed the data of the tax inventory conducted in 1495 by Sigismund Ernust, Chancellor of the Royal Treasury. Some 52 townships (civitas, oppidium) and 801 villages could be found in the area, in which, according to Kocsis, Hungarians are likely to have constituted the majority of population. According to this view, the population of the area included 148,000 (76,1%) Hungarians, 39,000 (20%) Serbs and 7,500 (3,9%) Croats. However, calculation of demographic data from this time period can be described as vague and of a rather varied nature, due to the lack of censuses that would collect comprehensive ethnic information. For the time of the Hungarian royal tax registration in 1495, conclusions for a probable absolute or relative „ethnic" majority of the population living in the area were drawn from the given sources through analysing direct references of „ethnic nature", in most cases by the linguistic analysis of taxpayers' names and that of geographical names.

Population data from the Ottoman administration period
During Ottoman administration (16th–18th century), the region of Vojvodina had an absolute Serb majority.

1690
In 1690, about 210,000 Serbs lived in Vojvodina (excluding Srem). In this time, almost entire population of the region was composed of Serbs, also including some Šokci.

1715
According to the Austrian census in Bačka from 1715, Serbs, Bunjevci, and Šokci comprised 97.6% of population.

1718–1720
The 1720 census in Bačka recorded 72% Serbs and 22% Bunjevci and Šokci. After the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), the first Habsburg census recorded in Banat about 20,000 citizens, mostly Serbs.

1910 census
Note that linguistic data from this census might not correspond with ethnic structure in some settlements (Novi Sad, Subotica, Zrenjanin, etc.), due to the fact that Hungarian language was spoken by several ethnicities (Hungarians, Jews, Bunjevci, etc.).

1941 census
Note: 1941 census data for Bačka was combined with 1931 census data for Banat and Srem.

Future demographic trends
The general demographic trend in Vojvodina is a natural decrease in population. According to the 2011 census, the average age of the population of the province was 41.8. Ever since 1989, Vojvodina recorded negative natural growth, including all the ethnic groups. Despite that, number of ethnic Serbs in the province is increasing due to the constant immigration of Serbs from other parts of Serbia as well as Serbs from Republika Srpska and parts of Croatia neighboring Serbia. It is expected that by 2021 census, Serbs become relative majority in Bečej and Čoka municipalities as well as in the city of Subotica itself.