People

In Serbia and Montenegro, Serbs are predominant, but ethnic Albanians form a large minority (largely in Kosovo) and there are smaller groups of Montenegrins (closely related to the Serbs and speaking the same language) and of Hungarians (in Vojvodina). Serbs and Montenegrins are two of the five ethnic groups—Croats, Slovenes, and Macedonians are the others—that with the Bosniaks make up the South Slavs (Yugoslavs). Closely related linguistically, these peoples are separated by historical and cultural factors that ultimately led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia (see below under History).

The vast majority of inhabitants of Serbia and Montenegro belong to the Orthodox Eastern Church (the Serbian Orthodox Church), but there is a significant Albanian Muslim population in Kosovo and the Sanjak region and some Catholics, particularly among the Hungarian population. The official language is Serbian (the eastern dialect of Serbo-Croatian, written with the Cyrillic alphabet). There are universities in Belgrade, Niš, and Novi Sad.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2006, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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