On the Possibilities and Constraints of Studying the Ethnic Makeup of the Population Using Census Data from the Principality and Kingdom of Serbia: the Case of Eastern Serbia

Abstract

Since the first half of the nineteenth century, various census data have been collected regarding the ethnic characteristics of the Serbian population, although the data are incomplete and collected irregularly. The ten censuses conducted in the Principality of Serbia between 1833 and 1874 have immense archival value, but their usefulness for ethno-demographic studies is limited. Similarly, while the statistics collected in the censuses of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1874 to 1910 are somewhat more reliable than the previous ones, they suffer from the absence of a direct question on ethnicity.

To determine the ethnic structure of the population during this time period, a researcher had to rely on an indirect approach through the identification of ethnic groups based on their linguistic affiliation. However, it is important to note that this method only provides an approximate estimation of ethnic composition. Despite this limitation, available census data can still provide valuable insights into the ethnic composition of the population of the Principality and Kingdom of Serbia, with the number and share of the Vlach population as the most numerous ethnic minority taking centre stage. This means that any data analyses must begin with the understanding that the indicators can only be presented for the Romanian-speaking population.

If we accept the indirect approach to determining population ethnicity, we can deduce from the data that the number of Vlachs in Eastern Serbia increased up to 1895, and their percentage share increased up to 1884. It is noteworthy that the dynamics of the number of Vlachs until 1895 were relatively stable, implying that the increase was practically linear and consistent with the growth tendency of Serbia’s overall population at the time.

Within the framework of demographic analysis, data on declared Vlachs in almost all censuses since the post-war census cannot be used to derive explainable demographic indicators. Therefore, it is reasonable to suspect that such data would also be of limited use in other academic fields, particularly in law, politics, and public life in general. This highlights the importance of paying closer attention to earlier ethno-statistic records, especially the first statistical aberration reported in the last decade of the nineteenth century.