Serbia
Capital: Belgrade · Southern Europe
Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe.
Photo: Cedomir Zarkovic, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Pirot fortress, Serbia
Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 3.0 rs · source
Genex Tower seen from abandoned multistorey car park, Belgrade.
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Museum of contemporary art, Belgrade, Serbia
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Did you know?
Serbia has about 6.5 million inhabitants, with its capital, Belgrade, being its largest city.
Continuously inhabited since the Paleolithic age, the territory of modern-day Serbia, then part of the Roman Empire, experienced Slavic migrations in the 6th century. Several Serb states were founded in the early Middle Ages and were at times recognized as tributaries to the Byzantine Empire as well as to Frankish and Hungarian kingdoms. The Serbian Kingdom was established in 1217, reaching its territorial apex in 1346 as the Serbian Empire.
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Dimitrovgrad Town Hall, Serbia.
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Genex Tower in Belgrade , overview
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The Church of St. Apostles Peter and Paul (Serbian: Црква светих апостола Петра и Павла / Crkva svetih apostola Petra i Pavla ), also known as Church of Peter (Serbian:…
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Etymology
The name Serbia derives from the ethnonym Serb. The origin of the ethnonym Serb itself is unclear. There exist two prevailing theories about the origin of the ethnonym *Sŕbъ (plur. *Sŕby), one from a Proto-Slavic language with an appellative meaning of a "family kinship" and "alliance", while the other is from an Iranian-Sarmatian language with various meanings.
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Fortress in Bač (Bács), Vojvodina - ruins of a circular tower
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Church of St Peter, Novi Pazar, Serbia
Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Spomenik Neznanom junaku u jutarnjim satima.
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History
Archaeological evidence of Paleolithic settlements on the territory of present-day Serbia is scarce. A fragment of a hominid jaw found in Mala Balanica Cave is believed to be up to 525,000 years old.
Around 6500 BC, during the Neolithic, the Starčevo and Vinča cultures were present in the region of modern-day Belgrade. They were widespread across much of Southeast Europe as well as parts of Central Europe and Anatolia. Several important archaeological sites from this era, including Lepenski Vir and Vinča-Belo Brdo, exist along the banks of the Danube.
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Bač (Bács) fortress, Vojvodina
Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 3.0 rs · source
Manasija monastery, Serbia.
Photo: Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
View of the town of Dimitrovgrad, Serbia with the tower of the Holy Mother of God church.
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Geography
Serbia is situated on the Balkans and in the Pannonian Basin, lying between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total area of 88,499 km² (34,170 sq mi), including the disputed territory of Kosovo, or 77,589 km² (29,957 sq mi), excluding Kosovo.
With eight neighboring countries, Serbia shares borders with more countries than any other European country except Germany, tying with Austria for second place.
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Church of St. George in Topola, Serbia
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Church of St Peter, Novi Pazar, Serbia
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Feketić (Bácsfeketehegy, Feketitsch, Schwarzenberg) - Vojvodina. Main street and Lutheran church
Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Government and politics
Serbia is a parliamentary republic. The current constitution was adopted in 2006 following the dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The Constitutional Court reviews the constitutionality of laws and other general acts.
The President is the head of state, elected by popular vote to a five-year term and limited to a maximum of two terms. In addition to being the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and representing the country in international affairs, the president has the procedural duty of proposing a candidate for prime minister to the parliament. Aleksandar Vučić is the current president following the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections.
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Typical Christmas table in Serbia. Grilled pork, Olivier salad (also called Russian salade), dzadziki salade, red wine and Bajadera sweets.
Photo: Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Cultural centre in the town of Dimitrovgrad, Serbia.
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Church of St. George in Topola, Serbia
Photo: Pudelek, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Economy
Serbia is an upper-middle-income developing mixed economy. It is predominantly a service economy, with the tertiary sector accounting for 58.8% of GDP, followed by the secondary sector with 26.1% and the primary sector with 3.2%. The country has a very high level of human development and moderate levels of income inequality. The official currency is the Serbian dinar, and the central bank is the National Bank of Serbia.
The labour force stands at 3.1 million.
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Demographics
According to the 2022 census, Serbia (excluding Kosovo) had a total population of 6,647,003, ranking 107th in the world. It has a moderate population density of 85.8 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Serbia completed its demographic transition by the early 1990s and has since experienced a demographic crisis characterized by below-replacement fertility, negative natural increase, population ageing, and net emigration. In 2025, the crude birth rate was 9.1 per 1,000 inhabitants, while the crude death rate was 14.9 per 1,000, among the highest in the world.
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Culture
The cultural identity of Serbia was shaped by centuries of historical divisions and overlapping influences as its territory successively formed the frontier between the Byzantine Empire and the Western Christianity, and later the Ottoman and Habsburg empires. These influences have produced a diverse cultural heritage, combining Byzantine, Central European and Balkan traditions in art, architecture, literature, music, with regional variations particularly evident between the northern Serbia (Vojvodina) which leans to the profile of Central Europe, and the central and southern Serbia with predominantly Balkan character.
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