Yugoslavia's resident population was around at 23.4 million people in 1987, up from 15.7 million in 1948 and 22.4 million in 1981. In addition, over a million Yugoslavs lived and worked for long times of time in other European countries. The nation's population density grew from 62 persons per square kilometer in 1948 to 92 per square kilometer in 1988.
Cleavages among southern Slav tribes developed over time, particularly after the establishment in the 4th century AD of the north-south “Theodosian Line” demarcating the eastern and western portions of the Roman Empire. Organization of the Christian church consequently was based on this division. Missionaries from Rome converted Slavic tribes in the west to Roman Catholicism (these tribal groups becoming progenitors of the Slovenes and Croatians), while missionaries from Constantinople converted ancestors of Serbs and Montenegrins to Eastern Orthodoxy.
Yugoslavia People
