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Where you could be born / Europe / Southern Europe

Born in Montenegro

About 1 in 18,873 people born in 2023 started life in Montenegro. A boy can expect to live 74 years and a girl 80, up from 57 and 59 in 1950. Most people live in cities, and nearly everyone has basic drinking water.

1 in 18,873
odds of being born here
7,000 births · Ranked 174th of 230
74 / 80
years of life, boys / girls
Was 57 / 59 in 1950
$8,662
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 83rd of 203 · extrapolated
65%
live in a city
The rest live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 19 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 126 in every 1,000 births to 3.3.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

0255075100195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
050100150195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth73.7 years for boys, 80.3 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 53.3 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year7,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people2.8World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles24%World Bank WDI
Adults living with HIV0.1%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year17 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 4.4 children on average in 1950. Now it is 1.8, below the 2.1 it takes to keep a population steady.

Children per woman
0246195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman1.80UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth30.2 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

If every 100 coins of income were shared out, the richest fifth would hold 40 and the poorest fifth 6.

Who gets the income
Share of all income by fifth of the population, 2021
6%Poorest fifth
12%Second
17%Middle
24%Fourth
40%Richest fifth
Income per personabout $8,662 a year (2021 dollars, adjusted for prices)World Bank PIP, scaled between survey years Extrapolated
Share of income going to the richest fifth / poorest fifth40% / 6% (2021)World Bank PIP
Unemployment13.1% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises8.6% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person6.5% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming5% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed17% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment94% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Podgorica, with 236,852 people.

65%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
99%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Podgorica236,852
Nikšić58,212
Herceg Novi19,536
Pljevlja19,489
Budva18,000
Languages
Share of people who can use each
Serbian100%
Albanian8%
Serbian5%
Serbian is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Podgorica236,852
Opština Nikšić58,212
Herceg Novi19,536
Pljevlja19,489
Budva18,000
Bar15,868
Bijelo Polje15,400
Cetinje15,137

Sourced: GeoNames Population of each state, province or region.

People on the move

About 14% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
Serbia57,943
North Macedonia9,302
Croatia5,539
Residents born abroad14.4% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 14.2% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostSerbia (57,943), North Macedonia (9,302), Croatia (5,539)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $897.1 million a year (2025)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

78% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 23%.

78%
of older people receive a pension (2020)
23%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2022)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 20242,654Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 19502; the deadliest, in 1979, killed about 131 people (magnitude 6.9)NOAA NCEI

Now live it.

Born in Montenegro, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in Montenegro

Elsewhere in Europe

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How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences