legend of razanj settlement tells us about the city back to roman times when this city was called arsena, from the latin word r s e n a l e, literally "a warehouse for storing war equipment", and therefore the settlement was called arsena. also, there is the road remains from the roman times.
although significant archaeological excavations on the territory of ražanj were not carried out, when building houses, digging wells, and so, very interesting archaeological sites comes out which confirm the existence of settlements from BC. these funds that are kept in museums in belgrade and Nis, testify that this area was inhabited in prehistoric times. This is witnessed by many archaeological excavations found in town and numerous exhibits in the neighboring museums.
in the municipality of ražanj, in 2002 there was a population decline compared to 1991, from 13,193 to 11,369, a decrease of 1,824 inhabitants, which means an average annual reduction of 166 inhabitants, which is almost three times more than the decline in the population of the whole district of Nish (4.6%), where there has been a decrease in the population of 13,393, the average annual population of 1,218, or 4.6 per 1,000 inhabitants.
due to the intensive migration movements and negative rates prolong increase, the total population is constantly decreasing, and an average decline of the population of municipalities ražanj is one of the municipalities in Nish district with the highest percentage of population decline in Serbia.