Currently, 13,000 fewer Croats live in Serbia than did in 2002, according to figures in the 2011 population census published on Thursday by the Serbian Statistics Bureau.
In 2002 there were 70,602 Serbian citizens who declared themselves as Croats. Nine years later 57,900 people were entered into this ethnic category.
The majority of Croats live in northern Backa and in the city of Subotica in the province of Vojvodina.
Croat representatives commenting on the data said that the decline in their community was worrisome even though it was expected.
"Negative demographic trends have continued for some time now, minority policies are merely symbolic and there is an anti-Croat mood which reached its climax just prior to the population census in October 2011", said the head of the Vojvodina Croatian Cultural Institute.
Commenting on the outcome of the census, the director of the Statistics Bureau, Dragan Vukmirovic said that only the capital of Belgrade marked a growth in population.
The 2011 population census shows that there are 21 ethnic communities in Serbia with at least 2,000 members and that 83.32% of the population is of Serbian descent.
