Estimates vary on the size of the Muslim population within these areas. In his extensive studies of Ottoman population movements, American historian
Justin McCarthy regarding the Muslim population of the
Sanjak of Niş gives the figure of 131,000 Muslims in 1876, with only 12,000 remaining in 1882.
[30][31][32] Whereas historian Noel Malcolm gives the figure for the Albanian population of the area as numbering around 110,000.
[16] Albanian historians such as the late
Sabit Uka[15] postulate that 110,000 is a conservative estimate based on
Austro-Hungarian statistics and gives a higher figure of 200,000 for the total Albanian population of the area.
[33] Other Albanian researchers like Emin Pllana, Skënder Rizaj and Turkish historian Bilal Şimşir place the number of Albanian refugees from the region as numbering between 60–70,000 in the vilayet of Kosovo and 60,000 Muslim or Albanian refugees in Macedonia.
[34][35][36][37][16] Albanologist
Robert Elsie estimates the number of Albanian refugees in Kosovo at some 50,000.
[38] Albanian sociologist
Gëzim Alpion asserts that over 100,000 Albanians were expelled from regions in Serbia and Montenegro.
[39] According to some Albanian scholars, 200,000 people were expelled and Hakif Bajrami claims that 350,000 people were expelled.
[40] Jovan Cvijić estimated that the number of Albanian refugees from Serbia was about 30,000
[41] a figure which current day Serbian historians such as
Dušan Bataković also maintain.
[42][43] That number was accepted by Serbian historiography and remained unquestioned for almost a century.
[41] Drawing upon Serbian archive and travelers documents historian Miloš Jagodić believes that the number of Albanians and Muslims that left Serbia was "much larger", agreeing with Đorđe Stefanović that the number was 49,000 Albanian refugees out of at least 71,000 Muslims that left.
[44][19]
