According to a statement from the Republic Statistical Office, from January to December 2020, the number of deaths was 13.9% higher compared to the same period in 2019.
“The published data on vital events in 2020 provide clear confirmation that the decades-long negative demographic trends in Serbia are continuing, further intensified by the ongoing pandemic. Until recently, we used to say that Serbia loses a medium-sized city each year—about 38,000 people, which was the average negative natural population growth. However, in 2020, we can symbolically speak of the beginning of the disappearance of large cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants,” explains Dr. Danica Šantić, a demographer and associate professor at the Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade, in an interview with NOVA.
