Croatian Serbs
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 186,633 (2011) | |
| Languages | |
| Serbo-Croatian (Croatian and Serbian) | |
| Religion | |
| Serbian Orthodox Church |
The Serbs of Croatia (Serbo-Croatian: Srbi u Hrvatskoj, Serbian Cyrillic: Срби у Хрватској) or Croatian Serbs (Хрватски Срби/Hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Croatia. The community is predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian by religion, as opposed to the Croats who are Roman Catholic. There has been a substantial Serb population in the territory of what is today Croatia since the Early Modern period. Serbs settled in several migration waves, and they populated the Dalmatian hinterland, Lika, Kordun, Banija, Western Slavonia, Eastern Slavonia and Western Syrmia. An important part of their identity is the Habsburg military service, where Serbs defended the Military Frontier from the Ottoman Empire. The population has been declining sharply since 1991 and the Croatian War (1991–95), from 12% to 4%.
Traditional elements of their identity are the Orthodox faith, Cyrillic script and military history, while modern elements are language and literature, civic, social and political values, concern for ethnic status and national organisation, and celebration of the Liberation of Yugoslavia.
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