Svenskserber Срби у Шведској Srbi u Švedskoj | |
|---|---|
| The Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in Stockholm | |
| Total population | |
| ~80,000 of Serb ancestry (est.) [1] [2] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö | |
| Languages | |
| Swedish and Serbian | |
| Religion | |
| Predominately Eastern Orthodoxy (Serbian Orthodox Church) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Serbs in Norway, Serbs in Denmark |
Serbs in Sweden are Swedish citizens of ethnic Serb descent and/or Serbia-born persons living in Sweden. Estimated number of people of Serb ethnic descent (including both full or partial descent) stands at around 80,000. [1] [2]
The first major wave of Serb immigration to Sweden took place in the 1960ss. This was a period when Sweden was in need of labour and in 1964 the visa requirement for Yugoslavia citizens was removed. As a result, Serbs and other ethnic groups from Yugoslavia (Croats, Macedonians, and others) immigrated to Sweden. Serbian (and Yugoslav) labour immigration declined during the late 1970s when recession hit the Swedish economy and the need for labour decreased.
Bosnian Serbs and Croatian Serbs migrated in another wave during and after the Yugoslav Wars. A third wave, that of Kosovo Serbs, came in the aftermath the Kosovo War in 1999.
The Serbs in Sweden are bilingual and the Serbian language is a rich contributor to the so-called Rinkeby Swedish, a sociolect of the Swedish language.
They predominantly belong to the Eastern Orthodoxy with the Serbian Orthodox Church as the traditional church and its diocese, Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Scandinavia. In 1972, the first Serbian Orthodox parishes (of St. Nicholas) was formed in Västerås, prior to the forming that same year a parish in Malmö (of Saints Cyrils and Methodius) and in 1973 one in Stockholm (of Saint Sava). Later, parishes have been formed in Göteborg (of Stefan Dečanski ), Jönköping (of Nativity of Mary), Helsingborg (of St Basil the Great), and one more in Stockholm. In 1982, the Church of Saint Cyril and Methodius was opened in Malmo, the first Serbian Orthodox church in Sweden. The parish of Saint Sava opened its church in Enskede in 1983; the parish in Göteborg also has a church.
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