This article is about demographic history of Novi Sad, the administrative center of Vojvodina and second largest city of Serbia.
Ottoman Empire Year Population 1798 6,890 1843 17,332 1850 7,182 1869 19,119 1880 21,325 1890 24,717 1900 28,763 1910 33,089 1921 39,122 1931 63,985 1941 61,731 1948 69,760a 1953 77,197a 1961 103,600a 1971 144,637a 1981 174,111a 1991 192,426b 2002 253,791c 2011 294,976c 2022 325,511c During the Ottoman rule, Petrovaradin had 200 (mostly Muslim) houses. There was also a Christian quarter with 35 houses populated by ethnic Serbs.Enciklopedija Novog Sada, knjiga 20, Novi Sad, 2002 In the year 1590, population of all villages that existed in the territory of present-day Novi Sad (on the left bank of the Danube) numbered 105 houses inhabited exclusively by Serbs. However, Ottoman records mention only those inhabitants that paid taxes, thus the number of Serbs that lived in the area (for example those that served in the Ottoman army) was larger.Đorđe Randelj, Novi Sad slobodan grad, Novi Sad, 1997
Habsburg Empire According to 1720 data, the population of Ratzen Stadt (later known as Novi Sad) was composed of 112 Serbian, 14 German, and 5 Hungarian houses.Dr Dušan J. Popović, Srbi u Vojvodini, knjige 1-3, Novi Sad, 1990
In 1780, Novi Sad had about 2,000 houses, of which 1,144 were Serbian.Dr Dušan J. Popović (see above)
In 1820, Novi Sad had 20,000 inhabitants, of whom about 2/3 were Serbs.Jovan Mirosavljević, Novi Sad - atlas ulica, Novi Sad, 1998
According to the 1843 data, Novi Sad had 17,332 inhabitants, of whom 9,675 were Orthodox Christians, 5,724 Catholics, 1,032 Protestants, 727 Jews, and 30 adherents of the Armenian church. The largest ethnic group in the city were Serbs, and the second largest were Germans.
Austria-Hungary After 1867, Novi Sad was located within the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary. During this time, the Magyarization policy of the Hungarian government drastically altered the demographic structure of the city, i.e. from the predominantly Serb, the population of the city became ethnically mixed. According to 1880 census, the percent of Serbian language speakers in the city was 41.2%, and the percent of Hungarian language speakers was 25.9%.Enciklopedija Novog Sada, knjiga 25, Novi Sad, 2005 Until 1910, the percent of Serbian language speakers decreased to 34.5%, while the percent of Hungarian language speakers increased to 39.7%.
According to the 1910 census, the city had 33,590 inhabitants, of which 13,343 (39.7%) most frequently spoke Hungarian, 11,594 (34.5%) Serbian, 5,918 (17.6%) German, 1,453 (4.3%) Slovak, etc. It is not certain whether Hungarians or Serbs were largest ethnic group in the city in this time, since 1910 census is considered partially inaccurate by most historians because this census did not record the population by ethnic origin or mother tongue, but by the "most frequently spoken language",A. J. P. Taylor, The Habsburg Monarchy 1809-1918, 1948 thus the census results overstated the number of Hungarian speakers, since this was official language at the time and many non-Hungarian native speakers stated that they most frequently speak Hungarian language in everyday communication. The city was also home to 2,326 Jews, of whom many were native Hungarian speakers. Another feature of the census was that it did not only record permanent residents of the city, but also temporary residents, who did not live in the city, but were situated there as part of the civil and military services.
Contemporary period In the last three decades, Novi Sad experienced significant population growth. According to the 2022 census, the city's population in its administrative area stood at 368,967, while in its contiguous urban area (including adjacent settlements of Petrovaradin, Sremska Kamenica, Veternik, and Futog) there were 325,551 inhabitants. The ethnic structure of the administrative area of Novi Sad is as follows: Serbs (78.3%), Hungarians (2.6%), Slovaks (1.4%), Croats (1%), and others.
See also History of Novi Sad Demographic history of Vojvodina Demographic history of Serbia
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