Market Research Companies in Serbia

Key figures for researchers

Population

6,647,003 (2022 census, excluding Kosovo*)¹

Ethnic affiliation

Serbs 80.64%, Hungarians 2.77%, Bosniaks 2.31%, Roma 1.98% (2022 census)²

Mother tongue

Serbian 84.4%, Hungarian 2.6%, Bosnian 2.2%, Romani 1.2% (2022 census)³

Religion

Orthodox 81.1%, Islam 4.2%, Catholic 3.9% (2022 census)³

Main cities

City of Belgrade 1,681,405, Novi Sad 368,967, Niš 249,501 (2022 census)⁶

Households

2,589,344, with 2.55 members on average; 29.9% are one-person households (2022 census)⁵

Age

average age 43.85 years; 22.10% aged 65 and over (2022 census)⁴

Internet use

87.7% of people aged 16–74; 88.8% of households have access at home (2024)⁹

GDP per capita

about US$15,260 (2025)¹⁰

Research guide

Research landscape

Serbia is often covered on its own or as part of multi-country studies in the Western Balkans. Local full-service agencies work alongside social and opinion research firms, field networks, telephone centres and online panel providers.

Belgrade is the main business centre: the City of Belgrade had 1,681,405 inhabitants at the 2022 census. Novi Sad (368,967) and Niš (249,501) are the other usual locations for city samples and focus groups. Ask your agency which professional code it follows, such as the ICC/ESOMAR International Code (fifth edition, 2025 revision), which is mandatory for ESOMAR members.

Languages and fieldwork

Under Article 10 of the Constitution, Serbian and the Cyrillic script are in official use; the official use of other languages and scripts is regulated by law. The Latin script is also widely used, especially online: in 2018, the national domain registry counted 101,648 Latin-script .rs websites against 2,512 in Cyrillic. Agree with your agency which script respondents will see, and whether both versions are offered.

In the 2022 census, 84.4% gave Serbian as their mother tongue, 2.6% Hungarian, 2.2% Bosnian and 1.2% Romani: studies targeting these communities may need translated questionnaires and native-speaking interviewers. Official statistics of the Republic of Serbia do not cover Kosovo*, where the 2022 census was not conducted (*this designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence). A national sample is usually stratified by the four statistical regions (Belgrade, Vojvodina, Šumadija and Western Serbia, Southern and Eastern Serbia) and by urban/rural area.

Which methods work

Connectivity is high: in 2024, 87.7% of people aged 16–74 had used the internet in the previous three months, and 96.8% used a mobile phone. Online surveys using access panels are used for urban and younger consumer targets, and mobile-friendly questionnaires are essential.

Coverage is uneven: 57.8% of people aged 65–74 had recently used the internet and 30.1% had never used it; home internet access ranged from 92.5% of households in the Belgrade region to 85.5% in Southern and Eastern Serbia, and from 91.1% in urban areas to 84.3% elsewhere. With 22.10% of the population aged 65 and over, telephone (CATI) and face-to-face interviews remain used for national representative samples, older people, rural areas and B2B decision makers.

Timing

Public holidays in 2027 are 1–2 January, 7 January (Orthodox Christmas), 15–16 February (Statehood Day), Orthodox Easter from Good Friday 30 April to Easter Monday 3 May, 1 May (Labour Day) and 11 November (Armistice Day). Christmas and Easter follow the Orthodox calendar, so they usually fall on different dates from Western Europe.

Avoid the period from late December to Orthodox Christmas in early January, and the long Orthodox Easter and Labour Day weekend, which overlap in 2027. For studies covering Catholic or Muslim respondents, also check their own religious holidays when setting fieldwork dates.

Data protection

Personal data is governed by the Law on Personal Data Protection (Official Gazette No. 87/2018), adopted on 9 November 2018 and applicable since 21 August 2019. Its content is largely harmonised with the EU GDPR. The supervisory authority is the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection (poverenik.rs). A Personal Data Protection Strategy 2023–2030 and an Action Plan 2025–2027 have been adopted to implement it.

The law also applies to controllers based outside Serbia that offer goods or services to people in Serbia or monitor their behaviour. Transfers are allowed to countries on the government’s adequacy list or with safeguards such as the Commissioner’s standard contractual clauses. Ask your agency how respondents are informed, where the data is hosted and how recordings or video will be shared with you.

Working with a local agency

• Share a clear brief: objectives, target, sample size, regions, method, languages and deadline.
• Agree on the script (Cyrillic or Latin) of the questionnaire, and on Hungarian, Bosnian or Romani versions if these communities are in your target.
• Ask which panels or fieldwork suppliers will be used, and how quotas by region, urban/rural area, age and gender are set and weighted.
• Check fieldwork dates against Orthodox Christmas, Statehood Day, Orthodox Easter and the other public holidays.
• Agree in writing who is controller and who is processor of the personal data, how data leaves the country if needed, and the retention period.
• Compare several proposals: you can send one request to up to 5 companies from this page.