Geography

 

Serbia is largely mountainous. Its northeast section is part of the rich, fertile Danubian Plain drained by the Danube, Tisa, Sava, and Morava river systems. It borders Croatia on the northwest, Hungary on the north, Romania on the northeast, Bulgaria on the east, Macedonia on the south, and Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina on the west.

Government

 

Republic. Serbia was one of six republics that made up the country of Yugoslavia, which broke up in the 1990s. In Feb. 2003, Serbia and Montenegro were the remaining two republics of rump Yugoslavia, forming a loose federation. In 2006, Montenegro split from Serbia.

Basic Info

 

National name: Republika Srbija

 

President: Boris Tadic (2004)

 

Prime Minister: Vojislav Kostunica (2004)

 

Current government officials Land and total area: 34,116 sq mi (88,361 sq km)

 

Population (2002): 9,396,411; fertility rate: 1.78/1000; life expectancy: 74; density per sq mi: 275

 

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Belgrade, 1,717,800 (metro. area), 1,285,200 (city proper)

 

Other large cities: Pristina, 204,500;

                             Novi Sad, 191,300;

                             Nis, 174,000

 

Monetary unit: Yugoslav new dinar. In Kosovo both the euro and the Yugoslav dinar are legal

 

Languages: Serbian (official); Romanian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Croatian (all official in Vojvodina); Albanian (official in Kosovo)

 

Ethnicity / Race: Serb 66%, Albanian 17%, Hungarian 3.5%, other 13.5% (1991)

 

Religions: Serbian Orthodox, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Protestant Literacy rate: 96.4% (2002 est.)