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Total population | |
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70,000 ethnic Serbs (estimate) 8,391 Serbia-born residents (2011 Census) | |
Languages | |
English, Serbian | |
Religion | |
Serbian Orthodox Church | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Serbian diaspora |
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United Kingdom |
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Oceanian |
British Serbs or Serbs in the United Kingdom[1] (Serbian: Срби у Уједињеном Краљевству, romanized: Srbi u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu) are Serbs and people of Serbian ancestry in the United Kingdom.
There are a number of Serbian Orthodox churches in the UK, including London, Birmingham, Bradford, Halifax, Corby, Derby, Bedford, Telford, Leicester and Oxford.[citation needed]
In 1953, an organisation which was to become the Movement of Serbian Chetniks of Ravna Gora in Great Britain[2] was established by fifty prominent Dinara Division veterans from all over England and Wales and is still active.
The Serbian Society in the UK[3] was formed in 1995 as a new influx of Serbian refugees and émigrés arrived amid the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. The society has a cultural focus in London. It is a registered charity.
The Serbian Council of Great Britain[4] was established in 2004 to promote the development of the community, particularly through cooperation with exiting community organisations. Since 2008, the organisation has organised Serbian Week which would broaden to become Serbian Month. Typically a series of events held from late January through to the end of February, it has become the most successful exposition of culture of its kind within the Serbian Diaspora.
In 2008, a magazine was launched for Serbs in Britain and Ireland called Britić,[5] which is now online.
The Serbian Council of Britain notes the presence of second- and third-generation British Serbs.[6] In 2001, the Serbian Embassy estimated that there were 70,000 Serbs in the United Kingdom.[7] A January 2012 estimate claims 80,000.[8]
The 2011 UK Census, recorded 8,049 Serbian-born residents in England, 122 in Wales,[9] 188 in Scotland,[10] and 32 in Northern Ireland (a total of 8,391).[11] In response to the ethnicity question, 7,312 people in England, 106 in Wales,[12] and 185 in Scotland wrote in "Serbian" under the "White" heading, as an alternative to ticking one of the pre-defined categories.[13]
There has been a Serb community in Halifax since Yugoslavia's liberation during World War II. Monarchist refugees (Chetniks) left Yugoslavia as a result of Josip Broz Tito's revolution.[14]
There is a sizeable Serb community in Shepherd's Bush (Hammersmith and Fulham) and Notting Hill (Kensington and Chelsea) in West London, where Serbian grocery stores, cafes, and a Serbian church is present.
There have been various attempts to estimate the population of Serbs living in the UK. The simplest answer was the 2001 national census which stated that there are 31,244 UK residents born in Serbian and Montenegro. A further 6,992 were born in Croatia. However, the obvious problems are that many Serbs were born in the UK (maybe even most British Serbs). Moreover, in 2001 there were still a large number of Kosovan Albanians in Britain who would have been registered as being born in Serbia and Montenegro. The Serbian Embassy made their own estimate ten years ago and arrived at a figure of 70,000.
procenjeno brojno stanje u januaru 2012 [estimation in January 2012]