8 Billion Lives
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Where you could be born / Europe / Southern Europe

Born in Serbia

About 1 in 2,209 people born in 2023 started life in Serbia. A boy can expect to live 74 years and a girl 80, up from 54 and 57 in 1950. Most people live in cities, and nearly everyone has basic drinking water.

1 in 2,209
odds of being born here
59,800 births · Ranked 126th of 230
74 / 80
years of life, boys / girls
Was 54 / 57 in 1950
$8,797
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 81st of 203 · extrapolated
62%
live in a city
The rest live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 22 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 148 in every 1,000 births to 5.0.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

0255075100195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
050100150200195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth73.5 years for boys, 80.0 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 55.0 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year94,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people3.1World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles84%World Bank WDI
Adults living with HIV0.1%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year20 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 2.9 children on average in 1950. Now it is 1.5, below the 2.1 it takes to keep a population steady.

Children per woman
0123195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman1.50UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth29.5 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 7.

Who gets the income
Share of all income by fifth of the population, 2023
7%Poorest fifth
13%Second
17%Middle
23%Fourth
40%Richest fifth
Income per personabout $8,797 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% / 7% (2023)World Bank PIP
Unemployment8.3% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises12.4% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person4.4% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming19% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed27% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment91% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Belgrade, with 1.3 million people.

62%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
95%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Belgrade1.3 million
Niš250,000
Novi Sad215,400
Novi Beograd209,763
Zemun155,591
Languages
Share of people who can use each
Serbian99%
Serbian99%
Albanian19%
Hungarian5%
Romanian2%
Serbian, Serbian, Hungarian, Romanian is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Central Serbia3.3 million
Vojvodina879,908

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

Large cities

Sourced: GeoNames Cities with a page: a million people or more.

People on the move

About 14% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are Germany, Austria, France.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
Germany303,740
Austria145,580
France96,840
Residents born abroad10.6% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 14.3% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostGermany (303,740), Austria (145,580), France (96,840)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $6.6 billion a year (2025)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

54% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 10%.

54%
of older people receive a pension (2021)
10%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2021)

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 202418,057Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 19503NOAA NCEI
Deaths in organized violence8,762 between 1991 and 1999UCDP

Now live it.

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

Be born in Serbia

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