The Urban Settlement Network in Serbia initial data

According to the methodology of the Statistical Office of Serbia a total number of

settlements in Serbia is 47061 (without data for Kosovo and Metohia 2) out of which 2722
settlements have less then 500 inhabitants, 1804 have 500 to 4,999 inhabitants, 169 settlements
have 5,000 to 49,999 inhabitants, and 18 have more than 50,000 inhabitants. Concerning the
distribution of the population it is concluded that Serbia is characterized by a large number of
settlements, whose number is continuously increasing year by year.
Regarding the urban settlement network in Serbia, it is consisted of 169 urban settlements
117 in the Central Serbia and 52 in Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.
Small urban settlements dominate in the spatial and functional organization of the
settlement network (Table 1)3.
Table 1. The distribution of urban settlements by size (2002).
No of inhabitants
< 5 000
5 00110 000
10 00150 000
50 001100 000
100 001200 000
=> 200 001
Total

No of urban settlements
52
41
58
14
3
1
169

% of urban population
3,21
7,27
29,10
21,36
12,08
26,53
100

Cumulative
135 500
442 360
1 649 790
2 550 770
3 070 650
4 189 630
-

Source: Census of population 2002. Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade

Although the settlement network of Serbia is characterized by a favourable distribution of

settlements and the nodal centres, detailed analysis of the concentration of population and
functions in them points to the certain problems.
In the City of Belgrade lives more than 22% of the total population of Serbia. Also, the
prominence of the City of Belgrade is indicated by the ratio of the population size of 5.87
between two largest urban settlements City of Belgrade and City of Novi Sad (urban settlement
of Belgrade is 5.87 times bigger than urban settlement of Novi Sad, e.g. 5.3 considering the
whole city areas4). Disharmony of population size between largest and other urban settlements in
Serbia indicates that urban settlement network is not properly and evenly developed.

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 2002 Census of Population, Book 9: Comparative Number of Inhabitants 1948,
1953, 1961, 1971, 1991 and 2002 - Data by Municipalities http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/WebSite/Public/PageView.aspx?pKey=164
2
Kosovo will be the subject of the National Report for Kosovo under UN 1244
o
3
Thematic book Settlement network in Serbia, 2010-2020, Official Gazette N 88/10.
4
The total surface area of the administrative area of the City of Belgrade is 3,244 km2 (3.65 % of the territory of Serbia) with
1,574,050 inhabitants (1,119,642 inhabitants in urban settlement of Belgrade) in 154 settlements in year 2002. There are 17
municipalities in the City of Belgrade, of which 10 are inner city municipalities. There are 26 other nearby settlements of urban,
urbanized and rural type of settlements in those 10municipalities. 130 more settlements are located in other 7 municipalities of
the territory of the City of Belgrade. Also, there are 2 city manipulates in the territory of the City of Novi Sad, 5 city
municipalities in the territory of the City of Nis, and 2 in the City of Pozarevac.

The apparent lack of the cities of 200.000 to one million inhabitants is an obvious
obstacle to balanced development of Serbia (only Novi Sad and Nis have more than 200.000
inhabitants, Table 2).
It should be emphasised the difference between the urban settlement and the city defined
by the Law on the Territorial Organization of the Republic of Serbia 5.
According to the Law on the Territorial Organization of the Republic of Serbia the
territory of the Republic of Serbia is divided into municipalities, cities and the City of Belgrade
as territorial units, and autonomous provinces (Vojvodina, and Kosovo and Metohija) as
territorial autonomy. The Law on Territorial Organization defines the territory with the status of
city and with the status of municipality, as follows:
the city is a territorial unit that represents economic, administrative, geographic and
cultural center of the wider area with more than 100.000 inhabitants. Exceptionally, regarding
specific economic, geographic and historical reasons a territorial unit with less than 100.000
inhabitants could be defined as a city if it fulfills all the other criteria specified by the Law. The
territory with the status of city represent a natural geographic entity, economically connected
area with well established communication within inhabited areas and with the city center as a
gravitational center . The city can be divided into city municipalities;
the municipality is the basic entity of local self-government, able to fulfill all the rights

and duties within its jurisdiction, and counting at least 10,000 inhabitants. Exceptionally,
regarding specific economic, geographic and historical reasons a new municipality can be
formed with less than 10.000 inhabitants. The territory of the municipality represents a natural
geographic entity, economically connected area with well established communication within
inhabited areas and with the seat as a gravitational center.

The Law on the Territorial Organization of the Republic of Serbia established 24 cities on
the territory of the Republic of Serbia (Belgrade, Valjevo, Vranje, Zajecar, Zrenjanin, Jagodina,
Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Krusevac, Leskovac, Loznica, Nis, Novi Pazar, Novi Sad, Pancevo,
Pozarevac, Pristina6, Smederevo, Sombor, Sremska Mitrovica, Subotica, Uzice, Cacak i Sabac).

Law on territorial Organization of the Republic of Serbia (Official Gazette No 129/07)

Pristina is the capital of Kosovo and Metohia, and other cities in Kososvo will be the subject of the National Report for Kosovo
under UN resolution 1244. The status of Kosovo and Metohia has not been definitely solved so far. According to the Constitution
of Serbia it is one of two autonomous provinces of the Republic of Serbia. According to the Constitution of Kosovo it is an
independent state. The international community is still divided: 76 out of 192 (40%) United Nations members recognized Kosovo
as independent country. Based on this ambiguity, in this report Kosovo is treated as a territory under UN resolution 1244
jurisdiction and will be elaborated separately.

Table 2. The cities in Serbia

Belgrade

Estimated
population
2009*
1,630,582

Novi Sad

327,175

Nis

255,479

Kragujevac

174,318

Leskovac

149,279

Subotica

144,540

national FUA

Krusevac

127,551

national FUA

Zrenjanin

125,391

national FUA

Pancevo

124,362

national FUA

Kraljevo

118,959

national FUA

Sabac

118,720

national FUA

Cacak

115,612

national FUA

Smederevo

108,046

national FUA

Novi Pazar

96,597

national FUA

Valjevo

93,117

national FUA

Sombor

89,314

national FUA

Vranje

86,753

national FUA

Loznica

82,749

national FUA

Sremska Mitrovica

81,613

national FUA

Uzice

79,601

national FUA

Pozarevac

74,463

national FUA

Jagodina

69,949

regional FUA

City (by the size)

Categorization (importance in the Functional Urban Area7)

The capital of Serbia (MEGA)
The capital of AP of Vojvodina (international FUA)
The largest city and the economical, cultural and political center of
the Region of Eastern and Southern Serbia (NUTS 2) (international
FUA)
The largest city and the economical, cultural and political center of
the Region of Sumadija and Central Serbia (NUTS 2) (national
FUA)
national FUA

Zajecar
61,446
Source: * Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade

The Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia 2010-2020, Official Gazette No 88/10

regional FUA

Map: Network of Urban Centers and Reional Organisation, Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia, 2010