Studi Emigrazione – settembre 2000 – n.139

The last decade of the XX century has been characterised by the economie and social revolution in the former Socialist countries, by the raise of new states, the ethnic actual and latent conflicts, the dramatic movements of people both internally and within countries in the area.
One significant example is the former Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, whose population was formed by people of different na­tionalities living together since centuries befòre being compelled to flee as a consequence of the recent conflicts. According to the 1996 cen­sus, there were 646.000 war displàced persons in the former Yugosla­via, ofwhich 618.000 in Serbia and 28.000 in Montenegro. Those WAP (war affected persons) represent 6.3% of the total population in Serbia and 4.5 in Montenegro. However, since migration has been accompa­nied by a process of urbanisation, the percentage increases in some major towns: in Belgrade, 1/4 of the population is constituted by war immigrant population; in Vojvodina, the percentage is 42%; on the coast of Montenegro, 1 out of 2 inhabitants is a war refugee – on the coast, the movement is motivated by the consistent tourist flowt which creates better opportunities of economie integration.