Kosovo population data-points

Table of contents

1 Ottoman Occupation
2 Balkan Wars and World War I
3 World War II
4 1968-1989: Ethnic Albanian Rule
5 1989-1999: Centralized Yugoslav Control
6 NATO Occupation
7 References

Ottoman Occupation

1455: Turkish cadastral tax census (defter) of the Brankovic dynasty lands (covering 80% of present-day Kosovo) recorded 480 villages, 13,693 adult males, 12,985 dwellings, 14,087 household heads (480 widows and 13,607 adult males). By ethnicity:

12,985 Serbian dwellings present in all 480 villages and towns
75 Vlach dwellings in 34 villages
46 Albanian dwellings in 23 villages
17 Bulgarian dwellings in 10 villages
5 Greek dwellings in Lau�a, Vučitrn
1 Jewish dwelling in Vučitrn
1 Croat dwelling

1871: According to Austrian colonel Peter Kukulj in a study done for the internal use of the Austro-Hungarian army: In the mutesarifluk of Prizren (corresponding largely to present-day Kosovo)) there was some 500,000 inhabitants, out of that:

318.000 Serbs (64%),
161.000 Albanians (32%),
10.000 Roma (Gypsies) and Circassians,
2.000 Turks

Balkan Wars and World War I

1929 Serbs: 61% Others 39%. ¹

1941 "Essentially unchanged". ¹

World War II

Creation of a fascist-nazi puppet state Greater Albania, massacres of some 10,000 Serbs, ethnic cleansing of about 100,000, settling of 70,000 of Albanians from Albania;

1948: 498,242 Albanians or 65% ⁵

1953: 524,559 Albanians or 65% ⁵

1961: 646,604 Albanians or 67% ⁵

1968-1989: Ethnic Albanian Rule

Under Albanian rule in the province, local provincial Statistical office given authority over census whereas the rest of the country's census was under the tutelage of the Federal Statistical Commission. Allegations of census rigging (for the 1971 and 1981) by Turk, Muslim and Roma minorities who claim forceful Albanization. Serb claims Albanians drastically overincreased their own numbers. Nothing could be substantiated though because the Kosovo Statistical offices were under exclusive Albanian control which was against the national norm at the time which dicated that census takers had to be of different nationalities (i.e. one Albanian and one Serb not both Albanian).

1971: 916,168 Albanians or 74% ⁵

Albanians take ever-increasing control of Autonomous province with the introduction of the 1974 Constitution.

1981: 1,226,736 Albanians 77%; Serbs 13%; Total 1,584,440. ⁵

1989-1999: Centralized Yugoslav Control

Newly strong Yugoslav Central Government reasserts control over Kosovo in 1989.

Official Yugoslav statistical results, almost all Albanians and some Roma, Slavic Muslims boyott the census as demanded by the politician Ibrahim Rugova. 1991 359,346 Total population

214,555 Orthodox Serbs (194,190 Serbians and 20,365 Montenegrins)
9,091 Albanians (most boycotted)
57,758 (Slavic) Muslims
44,307 Roma
10,445 Turks
8,062 Croats (Janjevci)
3,457 Yugoslavs

Official Yugoslav statistical corrections and projections, with the help of previous census results (1948-1981)

1,956,196 Total population (corrected from 359,346)

214,555 Orthodox Serbs (194,190 Serbians and 20,365 Montenegrins)
1,596,072 or 81,6 % Albanians (corrected from 9,091)
66,189 (Slavic) Muslims (corrected from 57,758)
45,745 Roma (corrected from 44,307)
10,445 Turks
8,062 Croats (Janjevci)
3,457 Yugoslavs

NATO Occupation

In 1999 NATO occupies Serbian province, 360,000 non-Albanians are ethnically cleansed and some 200,000 Albanians settle from Albania.

2002 UNapproximation. Total population 1.7 to 1.9 mn. ⁴

88% Albanians (1,496,000 - 1,672,000)
6% Serbs (102,000 - 114,000)
3% Muslim Slavs (51,000 to 57,000)
2% Roma (34,000 - 38,000)
1% Turks (17,000 - 19,000).

References

¹ The Serbian Information Centre

² The International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia

³ Kosovo

⁴ UNMIK Fact Sheet on Kosovo

⁵ Official Yugoslav censa results 1948-1981