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The Republic of Serbia lies in the southeast of Europe in the center of the Balkan peninsula and borders Hungary in the north, Romania and Bulgaria in the east, Macedonia and Kosovo in the south, Montenegro in the southwest and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the west. After Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia left Yugoslavia, founded in 1918, in 1991/92, Serbia and Montenegro initially existed as (residual) Yugoslavia and from 2003 to 2006 as a confederation of states. Since the independence of Montenegro, Serbia has also been an independent state. The capital is Belgrade. The area of the country is 77 474 km².
The north of Serbia belongs to the Pannonian Plain. The Dinaric Mountains in the west and the Balkan Mountains in the east are connected by several low mountain ranges in the middle of the country. Also in the south of the country there are low and high mountains. Highest mountain is the Midzor with 2 169 m. The longest river is the Danube with a length of 588 km. Its tributaries are Morava, Tisza and Sava. Serbia’s largest lake is the Djerdap Lake with 163 m².
Population
Around 7.44 million people live in Serbia. Minorities from the other states of the former Yugoslavia also live here, with the groups of Montenegrins, Yugoslavs, Albanians, Bosniacs and Croats each accounting for only about one to two percent of the total population. The largest minority is the nearly 4% of Hungarians. Sinti and Roma, Romanians, Slovaks and Walachians also live in Serbia. Population growth in Serbia is currently at zero, partly due to the continuing migration of certain ethnic groups.
About 85% of the people in Serbia belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church. There are also a small number of Catholic (5.5%) and Protestant (1.1%) Christians. With an estimated population of 1.3 million, the capital Belgrade is the country’s largest city. It is followed by Novi Sad with about 191 000 and Niš with about 174 000 inhabitants. More than half of the population lives in cities.
Serbian is the official language and is understood and spoken almost everywhere in the country. Since 2006 the script is officially Cyrillic, but also the Latin alphabet still exists.
Political system
Following Montenegro’s independence, the Republic of Serbia has been the successor state to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the successor to the Republic of Yugoslavia, since 5 June 2006.
According to the constitution that came into force in November 2006, the head of state of the republic, the president (since May 2012 Tomislav Nikolić), is elected by the people for five years; a re-election is possible. The Prime Minister of Serbia has been called Ivica Dačić since July 2012. The one-chamber parliament (Narodna skupština), which is elected for four years, has 250 MPs.
Important parties are the Serbian Progress Party (SNS), the Democratic Party (DS), the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and others. Serbia is divided into 17 districts and one city. The autonomous province Wojwodina belongs to the republic. The rest of the country does not form its own political unit and is therefore only informally referred to as narrower Serbia or Central Serbia.
Economy
The Serbian economy is in transition to a free market economy and is trying to overcome the consequences of political and economic isolation under Milosevic. The high unemployment rate (estimated between 20% and 30%), the national debt, which amounts to more than half of the gross national product, and the high number of people employed in the agricultural sector (24%) continue to weaken the country.
Sugar beet, maize, potatoes, wheat and fruit are grown. Animal husbandry and viticulture are also important, depending on the region. The mostly obsolete industrial plants are used for processing food (especially sugar) and for the production of agricultural machinery, paper, lead and simple electrical appliances.
Tourism has also largely failed to materialise since the Balkan wars and is currently being promoted. Energy is mainly generated by coal and hydroelectric power plants.
The total length of the road network is 45 290 kilometres. Serbia has 3809 kilometres of railway lines. The international airport of Belgrade plays the most important role for air traffic. There is also an international airport in Niš. Serbia’s currency is the Serbian dinar.