The ethnic makeup of Serbia’s population is diverse, with around 40 nationalities living side by side with the Serb majority. All citizens have the same rights and duties and enjoy full ethnic equality.

According to the last census in 2002, the Republic of Serbia has 7,498,001 inhabitants (excluding Kosovo and Metohija). Serbs comprise 82.86% of the population, Hungarians 3.91%, Bosniaks 1.81%, Roma 1.44%, Yugoslavs 1.08%, Croatians 0.94%, Montenegrins 0.92%, Albanians 0.82%, Slovaks 0.79%, Vlachs 0.53%, Romanians 0.46%, Macedonians 0.34%, Bulgarians and Bunjevci 0.27% each, Muslims 0.26%, Rusyns 0.21%, Slovenes and Ukrainians 0.07% each, Gorani 0.06%, Germans 0.05% and Russians and Czechs 0.03% each.

The majority of the population of Serbia is of the Christian Orthodox faith. The Serbian Orthodox Church, autocephalous since 1219, has played an important role in the development and preservation of the Serbian national identity. The majority of religious believers in Serbia are Orthodox Christians (84.98%), followed by Roman Catholics (5.48%), Muslims (3.2%) and Protestants (1.08%). Other religions are also present in Serbia.

The traditional churches and religious communities which have had centuries-long historical continuity in Serbia and whose legal subjectivity is acquired pursuant to special laws are:

• the Serbian Orthodox Church
• the Roman Catholic Church
• the Slovakian Evangelical Church
• the Reformed Christian Church
• the Evangelical Christian Church
• the Islamic Religious Community
• the Jewish Religious Community

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia guarantees the rights of ethnic minorities to the highest international standards. The collective rights of ethnic minorities enable them to decide on issues connected to culture, education, the dissemination of information and the use of their language and alphabet via elected national councils, which have been formed by members of 10 ethnic minorities: Bunjevci, Bulgarians, Bosniaks, Hungarians, Roma, Romanians, Rusyns, Slovaks, Ukrainians and Croats.

The last census in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija in which the Albanian ethnic minority took part (and where the majority of the Albanian minority lives), was carried out in 1981, meaning that accurate population statistics are unavailable.