Demographics of Montenegro

When we embarked on a diplomatic offensive, 117 countries recognized Kosovo. Now that number is at 97, Dacic said on TV Happy's talk show "Cyrillic" last night, stressing that it was a bad thing that we did not have diplomatic relations with some countries.

Vucic recalled that 28.73 percent of Serbs and less than 45 percent of Montenegrins officially live in Montenegro, referring to "the intention of part of the Podgorica regime".

This is the latest in a series of articles about the demographic crisis facing Central and Southeast Europe.

See also: Bye-Bye, Balkans: A Region in Critical Demographic Decline

"We are worried," said Majlinda Nesturi, the director of social statistics at INSTAT, the country's statistical agency. 

Nesturi has every reason to be worried.

"Ethnicity should not be a constitutional category," she adds. "I won't identify with any of these groups out of principle."

A federation of six republics, the former Yugoslavia brought together Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Bosniaks, Macedonians Montenegrins and others under one socialist union, but it fell apart in a series of brutal wars in the 1990s.

A man selling Turkish flags in Istanbul, Turkey, 02 August 2018. EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

The Foreign Ministry in Montenegro has tried to ease concerns expressed about the expatriate cards it is offering its large diaspora community after some ethnic Bosniaks from Montenegro now living in Turkey expressed fears that it was designed to undermine their ethnic identity.

At the same time, one third of Serbians (33 pct) holds the same opinion toward Albanians, a Faktor Plus poll has shown.

Medvedja is not a part of Presevo valley. The majority of municipality's population are Serbs.

"There is no ethnic animosity here. There are no exclusively "Serbian" or "Albanian" restaurants, people spend time together, congratulate religious holidays to each other.... It is an example of a functioning multi-ethnic place," Arsic said for Vecernje Nnovosti daily .