Serbia
The Republic of Serbia borders Hungary, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Kosovo. Until 2006, Serbia and Montenegro formed the Republic of Yugoslavia, which, following the Montenegrin referendum that enshrined the country’s independence, dissolved.
A landlocked state, it is the largest of the territories that emerged from the dissolution of the Republic of Yugoslavia. Its capital is Belgrade, and in total the country has a population of around 6.5 million, making it the most populous of the Western Balkan states.
A country whose population is predominantly Orthodox Christian, historically it has deep ties with the Russian Federation. During the Kosovo crisis in 1999, the former Republic of Yugoslavia opposed NATO, which intervened militarily in the territory of Kosovo, to prevent the worsening of the humanitarian crisis and the risk of an escalation of violence against the population.
Serbia is a parliamentary republic and has undertaken a process of political and economic modernisation in recent years. Openness to foreign investment, including in the industrial sector, has fostered good levels of GDP growth, also due to low labour costs. Trade relations with the countries of the European Union are very intense and, among them, the data concerning Italy have grown considerably in recent years with excellent indexes of trade between the two countries. Indeed, in 2021, the trade exchange between Italy and Serbia reached the record amount of EUR 4.1 billion.
Causes and possible developments of the recent Kosovo-Serbia tensions. The importance of Western Balkan political stability for European security. An analysis by Antonio Stango.
| Head of state | Aleksandar Vucic |
| Head of Government | Ana Brnabic |
| Institutional Form | Parliamentary republic |
| Capital | Belgrade |
| Legislative Power | Unicameral Assembly or Narodna Skupstina (250 seats) |
| Judicial Power | Constitutional Court (15 judges); Supreme Court (36 judges) |
| Ambassador to Italy | Mirjana Jeremić |
| Total Area kmq | 77474 km2 |
| Land | 77474 km2 |
| Weather | In the north, continental climate with cold winters and hot, humid summers with well-distributed rainfall; in the rest of the territory, continental and Mediterranean climate |
| Natural resources | Oil, gas, coal, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony, chromite, gold, silver, magnesium, pyrite, limestone, marble, salt, arable land |
| Economic summary | Serbia is one of the upper middle-income Balkan countries and has a manageable public debt; the country continues to pursue green growth and has undertaken new efforts in the area of anti-corruption | |
| GDP | $63.5 billions (Dec. 2022) | |
| Pro-capite GDP (Purchasing power parity) | $20497 (Dec. 2022) | |
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| Export partner | Germany, Bosnia and Erzegovina, Italy (2022) | |
| Imports |
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| Import partner | China, Germany, Russia (2022) | |
| Trade With Italy | €3.71 billions (2022) |
| Population | 6800000 (Dec. 2022) |
| Population Growth | -0.63% (2023 est.) |
| Ethnicities | Serbian 83.3%, Hungarian 3.5%, Romani 2.1%, Bosnian 2%, Hungarian 5.7%, undeclared 3.4% |
| Languages | Serbian (official) 88.1%, Hungarian 3.4%, Bosnian 1.9%, Romani 1.4%, other 3.4%, not declared 1.8% |
| Religions | Orthodox 84.6%, Catholics 5%, Muslims 3.1%, Protestants 1%, atheists 1.1%, other 0.8% (includes agnostics, other Christians, Orientals, Jews), undeclared 4.5% |
| Urbanization | 57.1% (2023) |
| Literacy | 99.5% |
The Republic of Serbia borders Hungary, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Kosovo. Until 2006, Serbia and Montenegro formed the Republic of Yugoslavia, which, following the Montenegrin referendum that enshrined the country’s independence, dissolved.
A landlocked state, it is the largest of the territories that emerged from the dissolution of the Republic of Yugoslavia. Its capital is Belgrade, and in total the country has a population of around 6.5 million, making it the most populous of the Western Balkan states.
A country whose population is predominantly Orthodox Christian, historically it has deep ties with the Russian Federation. During the Kosovo crisis in 1999, the former Republic of Yugoslavia opposed NATO, which intervened militarily in the territory of Kosovo, to prevent the worsening of the humanitarian crisis and the risk of an escalation of violence against the population.
Serbia is a parliamentary republic and has undertaken a process of political and economic modernisation in recent years. Openness to foreign investment, including in the industrial sector, has fostered good levels of GDP growth, also due to low labour costs. Trade relations with the countries of the European Union are very intense and, among them, the data concerning Italy have grown considerably in recent years with excellent indexes of trade between the two countries. Indeed, in 2021, the trade exchange between Italy and Serbia reached the record amount of EUR 4.1 billion.
