This paper aims to examine the attitudes of the Serbian population toward immigration in the context of depopulation and labor shortages, which are becoming more significant problems. Depopulation in Serbia, as well as throughout Europe, represents one of the most pressing problems of contemporary society. According to the latest census in 2022, Serbia has entered the final stage of population aging, which, along with low fertility rates observed since 1970, brings about many social issues. Additionally, there is a noticeable emigration rate of young, working-aged people, which affects the narrowing of this group, which is crucial for revitalizing society and the population. The problem arising from this unfavorable population trend, aside from the issue of its renewal, is the lack of workforce. This first became evident in manual labor jobs and those in lower social positions, and now there is an increasing number of foreigners occupying such roles in Serbia. It is expected that similar trends will emerge in all sectors of employment. Developed countries in Western Europe and the United States have responded to depopulation and the threat of labor shortages by developing migration policies that encourage immigration, primarily from countries that form the geopolitical semi-periphery. This raises the question of the justification and feasibility of such policies in Serbia. Aside from various other challenges, such as the attractiveness of Serbia to foreigners, there is also the question of the readiness of the Serbian population to integrate foreigners. Encouraged by this, we will analyze several dimensions of attitudes towards migrants, such as feelings of the economic and symbolic threat posed by immigrants, and willingness to allow different types of immigrants into the country, and preferred criteria for accepting migrants. For this purpose, we will use data from the 9th, 10th, and 11th rounds of the European Social Survey.
Petrović et al. (Mon,) studied this question.