Republic of Serbia Република Србија Republika Srbija
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Bože pravde God of Justice
Location of Serbia (orange) in Europe (white) Location of Serbia (orange) in Europe (white)
Capital and largest city	Belgrade
Official languages	Serbian language 1
Recognised regional languages	Hungarian, Croatian, Slovak, Romanian, Rusyn 2 Albanian, English 3
Government	Parliamentary republic
• President	Boris Tadić
• Prime Minister	Vojislav Koštunica
Establishment
• Formation	8th century
• First unified state	c.800
• Independence	1185
• Kingdom established	1077 (Dioclea) 1217 (Rascia)
• Empire established	1346
• Independence lost    to Ottoman Empire	1459
• First Serbian Uprising	Feb 15, 1804
• First Constitution	Feb 15, 1835
• Recognized	1878
• Kingdom of SCS	1918
• SCG dissolved	June 5, 2006
• Water (%)	0.13
Population
• March 2007 estimate	10,147,398 (83rd)
GDP (PPP)	2007 estimate
• Total	$54.310 billion (72th)
• Per capita	$7,234 (89th)
Gini (2007)	24 low
HDI (1997)	0.801 very high (n/a)
Currency	Serbian dinar4 (RSD)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
Calling code	381
ISO 3166 code	RS
Internet TLD	.yu (.rs)5
1 Following the adoption of the new Constitution, Serbian Latin script is awaiting parliamentary approval alongside the official Serbian Cyrillic script. 2 Official languages of Vojvodina. 3 Official languages of Kosovo. 4 The euro is used in Kosovo alongside the dinar. 5 The .rs is the official internet domain suffix since September 2006, but former domain suffix .yu is still in use until the current active leases expire. 6 Goran Katić: Republic of Serbia Human Development Analyses - www.razvoj.sr.gov.yu

Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia ([Република Србија or Republika Srbija] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), listen^ⓘ), is a landlocked country in Central and Southeastern Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. It is bordered by Hungary on the north; Romania and Bulgaria on the east; Albania and the Republic of Macedonia on the south; and Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on the west. The capital is Belgrade.

The modern state of Serbia was created by the merging of the Ottoman province of Kosovo and Metohija and the Austro-Hungarian-occupied Raska region in 1912 with the previously independent Kingdom of Serbia. Finally, Vojvodina (Serbian Voivodship), proclaiming independence from Austria-Hungary, joined Serbia in 1918. Current borders were established following the end of the World War II.

Name

In 17th and early 20th century English works, the country was often referred to as Servia.^[1][2] The usage was often resented by Serbs, who felt that the use of "Servia" linked the Serbs to the Latin servus, a slave or servant.^[3][1] The British press stopped using the term by the 1930s, allegedly due to the efforts of Vojislav M. Petrovich, publisher of the Serbian grammar in London.^[4]

The basic name, Serboi, originates in the works of Tacitus, Plinius and Ptolemy in the 1st and 2nd centuries, describing a people living north of the Caucasus. Following the migration into Central Europe, White Serbs have established a state Sorbia in the 5th century. Their arrival in the Balkans is thought to have happened in 630, when Serbs have settled among the Celtic and Illyrian tribes who lived in now today Serbia. Serbian kings were crowned as Kings of all Serbs rather than Kings of Serbia, and were using the terms Serb lands rather than Serbia itself. This is due to the fact that Serbs have mostly lived in several different tribal denominations such as Dioclea and Travunija, rather than in one unified state; however, the first unified state was achieved under the Vlastimirovic dynasty in the 9th century and has reemerged several times during Serbian history.

Geography

thumb|left|180px|Iron Gate Lake Serbia is located in Europe, on the Balkan peninsula and in the Pannonian Plain. It is placed at the crossroads between Central, Southern and Eastern Europe. The Danube river (2850 km) flows through the northern third of the country; it is 588 km long and forms the border with Croatia and part of Romania. The Sava river forms the southern border of the Vojvodina province, flows into the Danube in central Belgrade, and bypasses the hills of the Fruška Gora in the west. Sixty kilometers to the northeast of Belgrade, the Tisa river flows into the Danube and ends its 1350 km long journey from Ukraine, and the partially navigable Tamis (60 km/350 km) flows into the Danube near Pancevo. The Begej river (254 km) flows into Tisa near Titel. All five rivers are navigable, connecting the country with Northern and Western Europe (through the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal–North Sea route), to Eastern Europe (via the Tisa–, Tamis–, Begej– and Danube–Black sea routes) and to Southern Europe (via the Sava river).

The eastern border of the country is determined by the Carpathian Mountain range, which runs through the whole of Central Europe. The Carpathians meet the Balkan Mountains, following the course of Velika Morava, a 500 km long (partially navigable) river. Midzor peak is the highest point in Eastern Serbia at 2156 m. In the southeast, the Balkan Mountains meet the Rhodope Mountains, connecting the country with Greece. The Sar Mountains of Kosovo form the border with Albania, with one of the highest peaks in the region, Djeravica (2656 m). Dinaric Alps of Serbia follow the flow of the Drina river (at 350 km navigable for smaller vessels only) overlooking the Dinaric peaks on the other side of the shore in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Climate

The Serbian climate varies between a continental climate in the north, with cold winters, and hot, humid summers with well distributed rainfall patterns, and a more Adriatic climate in the south with hot, dry summers and autumns and relatively cold winters with heavy inland snowfall. Differences in elevation, proximity to the Adriatic sea and large river basins, as well as the exposure to the winds account for climate differences.^[5] Vojvodina possesses typical continental climate, with airmasses from Northern and Western Europe which shape its climatic profile. South and Southwest Serbia is subject to Mediterranean influences, however the Dinaric Alps and other mountain ranges contribute cooling down the biggest part of warm air masses. Winters are quite harsh in Sandžak due to the mountains which encircle that plateau.^[6]

Average annual air temperature for the period 1961–90 for the area with the altitude of up to 300 m amounts to 10.9 °C. The areas with the altitudes of 300 to 500 m have average annual temperature of around 10.0 °C, and over 1000 m of altitude around 6.0 °C.^[7]

Cities

Major cities (over 100,000 inhabitants) — 2002 census data, for Kosovo current World Gazetteer estimates (unofficial):

• Beograd (Belgrade): 1,273,651 (inner city area); 1,576,124 (with suburbs)
• Novi Sad: 215,659 (298,139 greater metropolitan area)
• Niš: 194,790 (250,518 greater metropolitan area)*
• Kragujevac: 145,980 (211,580 greater metropolitan area)
• Priština: between 155,499 (1991 census) and 262,686 (2006 calculation)
• Prizren: between 92,303 (1991 census) and 165,227 (2006 calculation)
• Subotica: 99,471 (147,758 greater metropolitan area)
• Leskovac: 78,030 (156,252 greater metropolitan area)
• Zrenjanin: 79,545 (131,509 greater metropolitan area)
• Pančevo: 77,087 (127,162 greater metropolitan area)
• Smederevo: 77,808 (109,867 greater metropolitan area)

National parks

Serbia has five national parks:

• Fruška Gora (250 km²)
• Kopaonik (120 km²)
• Tara (220 km²)
• Đerdap (Iron Gate) (640 km²)
• Šar-planina (390 km²)

History

Upon arrival to Balkans in 6th and 7th century, Serbs formed several medieval states, which succumbed to Ottoman Empire in 16th century. The first Serbia was made in 1217 and modern Serbia was reinstated in 19th century, when it become an independent principality and then kingdom. In 20th century, Serbia was a backbone of various South Slavic states, including the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 1918 to 1941 (renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929), the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 to 2003, and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro from 2003 to 2006.^[8][9][10] After Montenegro voted for independence from the State Union, Serbia officially proclaimed its independence on June 7, 2006, as the successor state to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Early history

Serbs settled the region by 630 AD, having been invited by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. They were fully converted to Christianity by 865 AD.^[11][12] The roots of the Serbian state date back to the 7th century and the House of Vlastimirović. A Serbian kingdom (centered around Duklja) was established in the 11th century. It lasted until the end of the 12th century.

Medieval

Serbs formed four distinct independent kingdoms by the 14th century — in Dioclea, Rascia, Syrmia and Bosnia.^{[13][14][15][16]} Of those, the most viable was Raška, formed in the 12th century by the Serbian Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja. In 1220, under Stefan the First Crowned, Serbia became a kingdom, and rose from Byzantine, Bulgarian and Hungarian patronage.^[17] In 1346, Stefan Dušan established the Serbian Empire.

The Empire was disintegrated and fell to the Ottoman Turks after the historic Battle of Kosovo in 1389. The northern Serbian territories (the Serbian Despotate) were conquered in 1459 following the siege of the "temporary" capital Smederevo. Bosnia fell a few years after Smederevo, and Herzegovina in 1482. Belgrade was the last major Balkan city to endure Ottoman onslaughts, as it joined Catholic Royal Hungary, following heavy Turkish defeat in Siege of Belgrade of 1456. It held out for another 70 years, succumbing to the Ottomans in 1521, alongside greater part of Hungary that was soon conquered. Another shortlasting incarnation of the Serbian state was the one of Emperor Jovan Nenad in 16th-century Vojvodina, however it also collapsed to the Ottoman Empire, before finally passing to the Habsburg Empire, where it would remain for centuries to come.

Ottoman/Austrian rule

Following the collapse of Serbian Empire in Battle of Kosovo, between 1459 and 1804, Serbia was under the Ottoman occupation, despite three Austrian invasions and numerous rebellions (such as the Banat Uprising). Islam was in a period of expansion during this time, especially in Raška, Kosovo and Bosnia. The Ottoman period was a defining one in the history of the country; Slavic, Byzantine, Arabic and Turkish cultures suffused. Many contemporary cultural traits can be traced back to Ottoman period. However the majority of the Serbs managed to keep their culture and religion through the long period of Ottoman rule. Despite three Austrian occupations and numerous rebellions, two-thirds of the modern state had remained under Ottoman rule until the early 19th century. Northern third of the modern country, Vojvodina, has endured a century long Ottoman occupation before passing to Habsburg Empire in the 17th century, only to proclaim independence from Austria-Hungary in 1918.

Principality of Serbia

The First Serbian Uprising of 1804–13, led by Đorđe Petrović (also known as Karađorđe or "Black George"), and the Second Serbian Uprising of 1815 resulted in autonomy and self-governance of the new Principality of Serbia (previously Pashaluk of Belgrade) from the Porte. As it was semi-independent from the Ottoman Empire, it is considered to be the precursor of the formation of modern Serbia. After the Ottomans were definitely expelled the in 1867, Serbia de facto secured its sovereignty, which was formally recognised internationally at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.^[18]

From 1815 to 1903, the Serbian state was ruled by the House of Obrenović, except from 1842 to 1858, when Serbia was ruled by Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević. In 1903, the House of Obrenović was replaced by the House of Karađorđević, who were descendants of Đorđe Petrović.

In the northern part of present-day Serbia that was ruled by the Austrian Empire, the local Serbs created in 1848 their autonomous region known as the Serbian Vojvodina. The region was in 1849 transformed into new Austrian crownland known as the Vojvodina of Serbia and Tamiš Banat. Although the crownland was abolished in 1860, the Serbs from the Vojvodina region gained another opportunity to achieve their political demands in 1918.

Independent Kingdom

The struggle for liberty, modern society and a nation-state in Serbia lasted almost three decades and was completed with the adoption of the constitution on 15 February 1835. In 1876, Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia declared war against the Ottoman Empire and proclaimed their unification. However, the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, which was signed at the Congress of Berlin by the Great Powers, granted complete independence only to Serbia and Montenegro, leaving Bosnia and Sanjak of Novi Pazar to Austria-Hungary, who blocked their unification until the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and World War I.

On 28 June 1914 the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria at Sarajevo in Austria-Hungary by Gavrilo Princip, a South Slav unionist, Austrian citizen and member of Young Bosnia, led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. The Russian Empire started to mobilize its troops in defence of its ally Serbia, which resulted in the German Empire declaring war on Russia in support of its ally Austria-Hungary. However, as German military planners wished to avoid a war on two fronts against both Russia and France, they attacked France first. This eventually culminated in all the major European Powers being drawn into the war. The Serbian Army won several major victories against Austria-Hungary at the beginning of World War I, but it was overpowered by the joint forces of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria in 1915. Most of its army and some people went to exile to Greece and Corfu where it healed, regrouped and returned to Thessaloniki front to lead a final breakthrough through enemy lines on 15 September 1918, freeing Serbia again and ending the war on 11 November.^[19] In World War I, Serbia had 1,264,000 casualties — 28% of its total population, and 58% of its male population.^{[citation needed]}

Part of a series on the
History of Serbia
By century 9th 10th
Prehistory Paleolithic Mesolithic Neolithic Bronze Age Iron Age
Pre-Roman Illyrians Autariatae Dardani Triballi Moesi Scordisci Dacians
Early Roman Illyricum Pannonia Pannonia Inferior Dalmatia Moesia Moesia Superior Dacia Dacia Aureliana
Late Roman Moesia Prima Dacia Mediterranea Dacia Ripensis Dardania Praevalitana Pannonia Secunda Diocese of Moesia Diocese of Dacia Diocese of Pannonia Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
Early Middle Ages White Serbia around 600 AD Principality of Serbia Duklja, Travunia, Zachlumia, Narentines, Raška, Bosnia 7th–10th century Catepanate of Ras around 969–976
High Middle Ages Duklja (Zeta) 11th–12th century Theme of Sirmium 1018–1071 Grand Principality 1071–1217 Kingdom of Serbia 1217–1346 King Dragutin's realm 1282–1325 Empire Fall 1346–1371 Lordship of Prilep 1371–1395 Prince Lazar's Serbia 1371–1402 Vuk's Land 1371–1412 Despotate of Serbia 1402–1537
Early Modern Ottoman-ruled Serbia 1459–1804 Jovan Nenad / Radoslav Čelnik 1526–1530 Banate of Lugoj and Caransebeș 16th–17th Habsburg occupation 1686–1699 Great Serb Migrations 1690 and 1737–1739 Military Frontier 1702–1882 Habsburg-ruled Serbia 1718–1739 Koča's frontier 1788–1791
Serbia 1804–1918 Serbian Revolution 1804–1815 Principality of Serbia 1815–1882 Serbian Vojvodina 1848–1849 Serbia and Banat 1849–1860 Kingdom of Serbia 1882–1918
Serbia since 1918 Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1918–1941 Axis occupation 1941–1944 Federal unit of Socialist Yugoslavia 1944–1992 Constituent state with Montenegro 1992–2006 Republic of Serbia 2006–present
Serbia portal

Yugoslavia

After 1918, Serbia, along with Montenegro, was a founding member of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War II, Serbia was a German-occupied puppet state that included present-day Central Serbia and Banat, popularly called Nedić's Serbia. However, parts of the present-day territory of Serbia were occupied by Croatian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Albanian, and Italian armies. The occupying powers committed numerous crimes against the civilian population, especially against Serbs and Jews.^{[citation needed]}

In 1945, Serbia was established as one of the federal units of the second Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, led by Josip Broz Tito until his death in 1980. Upon Tito's death, the controversial status of the Albanian-dominated autonomous province of Kosovo created a revival of nationalism by both Albanians and Serbians which was one of a number of tense ethnic and cultural disputes resurfacing in post-Tito Yugoslavia. In 1989, the League of Communists of Serbia selected Slobodan Milošević to become the republic's President. Milošević was controversial in Yugoslavia because he opposed Kosovo's autonomy and that his rise to power through the Anti-bureaucratic revolution was done through mass protests which pushed out the leadership of the autonomous provinces and also the republic of Montenegro. He also aggravated the situation in post-Tito Yugoslavia by alleging that certain politicians in Yugoslavia were anti-Serb. Milošević's nationalist stand on Kosovo and desire to strengthen Serbia's position in Yugoslavia drove dissent in other republics into demand for independence from Yugoslavia. The republics of Yugoslavia including Serbia all adopted multi-party systems in 1990. Milosevic and the Communist establishment were elected under the Socialist Party of Serbia. In the other republics, except for Montenegro, secessionist governments were elected.

By 1992, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia & Herzegovina had all declared independence from Yugoslavia, resulting in the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic and the outbreak of war. Serbia, together with Montenegro, formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992. By the end of 1992, despite civil wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, whilst supporting the interests of Serb rebels in Croatia and giving military equipment to Bosnian Serbs, Serbia itself remained peaceful externally and to a large degree internally until 1998, when clashes with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) suddenly worsened in Kosovo and Metohija.

Between 1998 and 1999, continued clashes in Kosovo between Serbian and Yugoslav security forces and the KLA prompted a NATO aerial bombardment which lasted for 78 days. The attacks were ended following a negotiation on the Macedonian-FR Yugoslav border between Nato spokesperson Mike Jackson and officials on behalf of Milošević, in which Milošević would withdraw all security forces, including the military and the police, and have them replaced by a body of international police. The agreement meant that Kosovo would formally remain within the Yugoslav Federation (See: Kosovo War). As a part of the same bargain, the NATO countries also surrendered their bid to station their troops across the whole federal republic as they had fought to do, and promised to confine themselves to Kosovo.

In September 2000, opposition parties claimed that Milošević committed fraud in routine federal elections. Street protests and rallies throughout Serbia eventually forced Milošević to concede and hand over power to the recently formed Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), a broad coalition of anti-Milošević parties. The fall of Milošević led to end of the international isolation Serbia suffered during the Milošević years. Serbia's new leaders announced that Serbia would seek to join the European Union and NATO. In October 2005, the EU opened negotiations with Serbia for a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), a preliminary step towards joining the EU. These talks, however, were suspended in 2006 after the EU concluded that Serbia had not done enough to meet its obligations to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Serbia and Montenegro

From 2003 to 2006, Serbia was part of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, into which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had been transformed. On 21 May 2006 Montenegro held a referendum to determine whether or not to end the union with Serbia. The next day, state-certified results showed 55.5% of voters in favor of independence, which was just above the 55% required by the referendum.

Independence

On 5 June 2006 National Assembly of Serbia declared Serbia the successor to the State Union, following the decision of the Parliament of Montenegro who declared Montenegro independent.

Government and politics

On 4 February 2003 the parliament of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agreed to a weaker form of cooperation between Serbia and Montenegro within a confederal state called Serbia and Montenegro. The union ceased to exist following Montenegrin and Serbian declarations of independence in June 2006.

After the ousting of Slobodan Milošević on 5 October 2000, the country was governed by the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. Tensions gradually increased within the coalition until the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) left the government, leaving the Democratic Party (DS) in overall control. Nevertheless, in March 2004 the DSS gathered enough support to form the new Government of Serbia, together with G17 Plus and coalition SPO–NS, and the support of the Socialist Party of Serbia, who do not take part in the government, but in exchange for the support hold minor government and justice positions and influence policies. The Prime Minister of Serbia is Vojislav Koštunica, leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia.

The current President of Serbia is Boris Tadić, leader of the Democratic Party (DS). He was elected with 53% of the vote in the second round of the Serbian presidential election held on 27 June 2004, following several unsuccessful elections since 2002.

Serbia held a two-day referendum on October 28 and October 29, 2006, that ratified a new constitution to replace the Milošević-era constitution.

Serbia held Parliamentary elections on 21 January 2007. The Serbian Radical Party claimed victory, but no party has won an absolute majority. The Speaker of the Serbian Parliament is Tomislav Nikolić, leader of the Serbian Radical Party.

Administrative subdivisions

Serbia is divided into 29 districts plus the City of Belgrade. The districts and the city of Belgrade are further divided into municipalities. Serbia has two autonomous provinces: Kosovo (called Kosovo i Metohija, often abbreviated to Kosmet in Serbian) in the south (5 districts, 30 municipalities), which is presently under the administration of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, and Vojvodina in the north (7 districts, 46 municipalities).

The part of Serbia that is neither in Kosovo nor in Vojvodina is called Central Serbia. Central Serbia is not an administrative division, unlike the two autonomous provinces, and it has no regional government of its own. In English this region is often called "Serbia proper" to denote "the part of the Republic of Serbia not including the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo", as the Library of Congress puts it.^[20] This usage was also employed in Serbo-Croatian during the Yugoslav era (in the form of "uža Srbija", literally: "narrow Serbia"). Its use in English is purely geographical, without any particular political meaning being implied.

Negotiations are currently underway to determine the final status of Kosovo. The Contact Group has postponed the completing of the status process until after Serbian parliamentary elections in January 2007.

Demographics

150px|thumb|right| Demographics in Serbia

Population statistics of Serbia (Estimate May 2005)

• Serbia (total): 9,396,411
  • Vojvodina: 2,116,725
  • Central Serbia: 5,479,686
  • Kosovo: 1,800,000

Serbia is populated mostly by Serbs. Significant minorities include Albanians (who are a majority in the province of Kosovo), Hungarians, Bosniaks, Roma, Croats, Slovaks, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Romanians, etc. The two provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo, are ethnically and religiously diverse, as they were ruled by the Habsburg Empire and Ottoman Empire respectively for longer time than the Central Serbia.

According to the last official census^[21] data collected in 2002, ethnic composition of Serbia is:

• Total: 7,498,001
  • Serbs: 6,212,844 (82.86%)
  • Hungarians: 293,172 (3.91%)
  • Bosniaks: 136,464 (1.82%)
  • Roma: 107,971 (1.44%)
  • Yugoslavs: 80,978 (1.08%)
  • Others (each less than 1%): 666,572 (8.89%)

Albanians in the province of Kosovo did not take part in official census; their population is estimated to around 1.9 million, bounded only to the province.

Religion

According to the 2002 Census [3], 82% of the population of Serbia (excluding Kosovo) or 6,2 million people declared their nationality as Serbian, who are overwhelmingly adherents of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Other Orthodox Christian communities in Serbia include Montenegrins, Romanians, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Vlachs etc. Together they comprise about 84% of the entire population.

Catholicism has strong grounds in Vojvodina, where about 20% of the regional population (belonging to different ethnic groups such as the Hungarians, Slovaks, Croats, Bunjevci, Czechs, Rusyns etc) belong to this Christian denomination. There are an estimated 433,000 baptised Catholics in Serbia, roughly 6,2% of the population, mostly bounded to the northern province and Belgrade area.

Protestantism accounts for about 1,5 % of the country's population.

Islam has a strong historic populous in the southern regions of Serbia - Raska region, Presevo valley and especially in the southern province of Kosovo. Bosniaks are the largest Muslim community in Serbia (excluding Kosovo) at about 140,000 (2%), followed by Albanians (1%), Turks, Arabs etc.

Judaism With the Exile of Jews from Spain during the infamous Inquisition era thousands of both individuals and families escaping that horror made their way through Europe to the Balkans. A goodly number settled in Serbia and became part of the general population. They were well accepted and during the ensuing generations the majority assimilated or became traditional or secular rather than remain orthodox Jews as had been the original immigrants. Later on the wars that ravaged the region resulted in a great part of the Serbian Jewish population either being killed or escaping to other regions for hopefully safer abodes in Yugoslavia and Austro-Hungaria.

Economy

Serbia has an economy based mostly on various services, industry and agriculture. In the late 1980s, at the beginning of the process of economic transition, its position was favorable, but it was gravely impacted by UN economic sanctions 1992–95, the damage to infrastructure and industry during the NATO air strikes in 1999, as well as having problems from losing the markets of ex-Yugoslavia and Comecon. Main economic problems include high unemployment and an insufficient amount of economic reforms.

Serbia grows about one-third of the world's raspberries and is the leading frozen fruit exporter.^[22]

After the ousting of former Federal Yugoslav President Milošević in October 2000, the country experienced faster economic growth (the amount of economic growth in 2006 was 6.3 percent^[23]), and has been preparing for membership in the European Union, its most important trading partner. Serbia suffers from high export/import trade deficit and considerable national debt. The country expects some major economic impulses and high growth rates in the next years. Serbia has been occasionally called a "Balkan tiger" due to its recent high economic growth rates, a reference to the East Asian Tigers.

Serbia has been very successful in economic reforms since the 2000 revolution, especially in the past three years in which growth has averaged 6% - 7%, and foreign direct investment is at record levels. The nation is expected to reach its pre-1990 level of GDP within a short time frame.

Estimated GDP of Serbia for 2006 is $50.688 billion which is $6 771 per capita Purchasing Power Parity(PPP), $4 220 (nominal). GDP growth rate in 2006 is 5.8%.^[24] Growth in 2005 was 6.3%^[25] FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in 2006 was $5.85 billion or €4.5 billion.

Culture

Serbia is one of Europe's most culturally diverse countries. The borders between large empires ran through the territory of today's Serbia for long periods in history: between the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire; between Royal Hungary, Bulgarian Empire and Byzantium; and between the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Empire (later Austria-Hungary). As a result, while the north is culturally "Central European", the south is rather more "Oriental". Of course, both regions have influenced each other, and so the distinction between north and south is artificial to some extent.

The Byzantine Empire's influence on Serbia was perhaps the greatest. Serbs are Orthodox Christians with their own national church — the Serbian Orthodox Church. They use both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, as a result of both Eastern and Western influences. The monasteries of Serbia, built largely in the Middle Ages, are one of the most valuable and visible traces of medieval Serbia's association with the Byzantium and the Orthodox World, but also with the Romanic (Western) Europe that Serbia had close ties with back in Middle Ages. Most of Serbia's queens still remembered today in Serbian history were mostly of foreign origin: Helen d'Anjou (a cousin of Charles I of Sicily), Anna Dondolo (daughter of the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo), Catherine of Hungary, Symonide of Byzantium.

Education

Education in Serbia is regulated by the Serbian Ministry of Education and Sports. Education starts in either pre-schools or elementary schools. Children enroll in elementary schools ([Osnovna škola / Основна школа] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) at age of 7 and it lasts for eight years.

Tourism

Tourism in Serbia is mostly based in mountains and villages. The most famous mountain resorts are Zlatibor, Kopaonik, and the Tara. There also are a lot of spas in Serbia, one the biggest of which is the Vrnjačka Banja. There is also significant tourism in Belgrade and Novi Sad (the capital of the Vojvodina province), as well to the Exit Festival and the Guča trumpet festival. In 2006, there have been over 2 million tourists arrivals in Serbia.

Serbian holidays

Infrastructure

Communications

Transportation

Serbia, in particular the valley of the Morava, is often described as "the crossroads between East and West", which is one of the primary reasons for its turbulent history. The Morava valley route, which avoids mountainous regions, is by far the easiest way of traveling overland from continental Europe to Greece and Asia Minor.

European routes E65, E70, E75 and E80, as well as the E662, E761, E762, E763, E771, and E851 pass through the country. The E70 westwards from Belgrade and most of the E75 are modern highways of motorway / autobahn standard or close to that.

The Danube River, central Europe's connection to the Black Sea, flows through Serbia.

There are four international airports in Serbia: Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, Niš Constantine the Great Airport, Vršac International Airport and Priština International Airport (last one is located in the Serbian province of Kosovo).

The national airline carrier is Jat Airways and the railway system is operated by Beovoz in Belgrade and by Serbian Railways on the national level.

See also

• Military of Serbia
• List of Serbs
• List of computer systems from Serbia
• Radio Television of Serbia
• Serbian Campaign (World War I)
• Serbian law
• Timeline of Serbian history
• Foreign relations of Serbia
• Serbian passport

References

External links

Government links

(In alphabetical order of domain name.)

• People's Office of Serbian President
• National Bank of Serbia
• The EU integration Office of Serbian Government
• National Tourism Organisation of Serbia
• Serbian Government
• Republic of Serbia Statistical Office
• National Assembly of Serbia

Other links

• CIA World Factbook profile on Serbia

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