Capital: Belgrade
Population: 7,379,339 (July 2009 est.)
GDP per capita: $10,900 (2008)

Since the May 2008 victory of a pro-European coalition government, Serbia has demonstrated its determination to move toward EU membership. However, it still faces a number of domestic and international challenges, including accelerating a stalled reform agenda while mitigating the impact of the global financial crisis on Serbia; taking the necessary steps to combat corruption; responsibly expressing the country’s opposition to Kosovo’s independence; and, reforming the electoral system which is not yet fully transparent nor accountable to citizens and allows political parties to wield excessive power over public life and business development.

Constitution: adopted 8 November 2006; effective 10 November 2006

Executive branch:
Chief of state:President Boris TADIC (since 11 July 2004)
Head of government: Prime Minister Mirko CVETKOVIC (since 7 July 2008)
Cabinet: Ministries act as cabinet

Legislative branch: Unicameral National Assembly (250 seats; deputies elected according to party lists to serve four-year terms)

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Cassation, appellate courts, district courts, municipal courts

Administrative divisions: 161 municipalities

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
Serbia has the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in Europe: a total of approximately 314,000 (Source: UNHCR).
 

Since the global financial turmoil spilled into emerging markets in October 2008, Serbia has seen substantial deterioration in its economic fundamentals. As elsewhere in the region, exports and imports have plummeted, external borrowing has dried up, and economic activity has slumped. Going forward, the global and regional economic downturn will likely be deeper and more protracted than projected only months earlier. Serbia’s GDP growth is likely to be negative this year with the official forecast of a 2% contraction for 2009 and limited prospects for recovery in 2010 with modest growth forecasted at 0.5%. Unofficial forecasts place GDP contraction between 5% and 7%. The dinar remains under pressure with some economists projecting an additional 10% depreciation in 2009. The unsustainable spending boom in the public and private sectors that drove Serbia’s economic growth and external imbalances in recent years is being reversed sharply. In response to the deteriorating conditions, Serbia is entering into a $3 billion stand-by loan with the IMF to smooth, not preclude, the inevitable contraction in economy-wide spending to more sustainable levels. The Government is also seeking additional support from other international financial institutions and donors during this period. To achieve a more balanced external position, there is a strategy being implemented with two main elements. First, fiscal adjustments are being made to keep the 2009 deficit at a level no greater than 3% of GDP (revised 2009 budget deficit of 2.3% based upon 2% GDP contraction). Second, foreign banks have been asked to provide voluntary assurances to maintain their commitments to Serbia and keep their subsidiaries well capitalized. In addition to these two elements, there are commitments to maintain monetary policy aimed at containing inflation, projected to be 8% in 2009, and to accelerate long-delayed structural reforms to boost the economy’s potential output.

GDP - real growth rate:
5.6% (2008 est.)
7.1% (2007 est.)
5.6% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita:
$10,900 (2008 est.)
$10,300 (2007 est.)
$9,500 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
Agriculture:12.3%
Industry: 24.2%
Services: 63.5% (2007 est.)

Labor force:
2.961 million (2002 est.)

Unemployment rate:
18.8% (2007 est.)

Local Currency:
Dinar (RSD)

USAID programs in Serbia, operating under a five-year approved strategy (2006-2011), support the U.S. foreign policy objective of seeing the country complete its transition to a democratic, prosperous state, and moving rapidly toward European Union (EU) membership. Serbia’s positive transition to a market-oriented, consolidated democracy is essential for facilitating the country’s full integration into Europe and for maintaining peace and stability in the Balkans.

From 2001 to 2008, nearly $670 million in U.S. assistance was provided to Serbia, of which approximately 80 percent was managed by USAID. This investment by the American people helped Serbian local governments to be more responsive to their citizens; municipalities to attract significant investments by becoming more business-friendly; implement reforms to produce the highest growth in the region for Serbia’s banking sector; modernize commercial courts to become more efficient and transparent; and, make independent media more professional and financially viable. USAID programs continue to promote democratic governance and sustained economic growth while building the capacity of key counterparts at the national and local levels to move the country toward lasting political and economic stability. At the same time, USAID is helping Serbian companies to be more competitive in global and regional markets.

• Saint Sava Temple in Belgrade is one of the largest Orthodox (Eastern Christian) temples in the world. From the initial idea to construct it, through to today, a time period of over a century has elapsed, and it is still not finished, although it is operational and presents one of the landmarks of Belgrade. The dome is 70 m (229.66 ft) high, while the main gold-plated cross is another 12 m (39.37 ft) high, which gives a total of 82 m (269.03 ft) to the height. There are 18 more gold-plated crosses of various sizes, and 49 bells.
• The Belgrade Arena is one of the largest sports and music venues in Europe. It has hosted European Basketball and Volleyball Championships as well as the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, and a number of stars like Iron Maiden, Phil Collins, Lenny Kravitz, Rihanna, Nick Cave, Joe Cocker, Andrea Bocelli, Jean Michel Jarre, 50 Cent, and others.
• JAT Airways is one of the oldest air carriers in the world, founded initially in 1927 as Aeroput, then known as JAT – Yugoslav Airlines, now known as Jat Airways, and has one of the best safety records, with only two reported accidents involving fatalities, in its entire history.
• Frescoes at the Sopocani Monastery are thought to be the predecessors to the Italian Renaissance.
• The Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade is named after a great Serbian-American scientist who was also one of the greatest inventors of all time.
• Belgrade sits on the confluence of two international waterways, the Sava and the Danube rivers, and has 30 hills and 6 river islands.
• The Djerdap Gorge, through which the mighty Danube flows, is the largest gorge in Europe.
• The Uvac Canyon is one of the last habitats of the Griffon vulture (Latin: gyps fulvus)in Europe.
• Serbiagrows approximately one-third of the world's raspberries.
• The Lepenski Vir archaeological site hosted a culture from 7,000 BC which was the first civilization in Europe to have made a sculpture.
• Serbiahas more than 300 thermal and mineral water sources, but only a small fraction of them is actually commercially exploited.
• 16 Roman Emperors were born on the territory of today’s Serbia and there is an interesting Roman Emperors’ Route that tourists can take.
• The first satellite broadcast in 1963 between Europe and North America sent an image of the White Angel from Mileseva Monastery. It was also used for a while in transmitting signals in search for extraterrestrial life.
• The Djavolja Varos natural rock formation near Kursumlija has 202 stone caps, and is the only candidate in Serbia for the New Wonders of the World.
• A million year old skeleton of a mammoth was recently discovered at Kostolac, almost perfectly preserved. This mammoth is believed to be the oldest species of European mammoth, and is about half a million years older than its “cousin” discovered near Kikinda in 1996. The “cousin” was named Kika and has a website http://www.kika-mamut.com
• The decision to split the Roman Empire in two was reached in Mediana near the city of Nis.
• Guca is the Serbian trumpet and brass band festival that takes place each August, as a crowd of half a million swarms into a town of a few thousand people. An English party site, ThisIsTheLife.com, has named Guca the best festival in the world, calling it “the wildest music festival on Earth”. Tens of thousands of foreigners attend this event. Please visit the Guca festival website: http://www.guca.rs/
• The Exit Festival that takes place annually in Novi Sad is attended by tens of thousands of rock and alternative music fans. You are welcome to visit the Exit Festival website: http://www.exitfest.org/
• In the competition European Cities and Regions of the Future 2006/2007, organized by the Financial Times’ Foreign Direct Investment magazine, Belgrade was proclaimed the winner as the City of the Future in Southern Europe.
• The Victor monument at Kalemegdan, one of the symbols of Belgrade, was built in 1928 to mark the tenth anniversary of the end of World War One. Initially, it stood in downtown Belgrade near the Hotel Moskva, but the ladies of Belgrade protested at the time, since the monument depicts a naked man. That was the reason for moving the monument further out – to Kalemegdan.
• Miroslav’s Gospel, written in the 12^th century, is the oldest preserved Serbian manuscript.
• Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, was born in Naissus in today’s Serbian city of Nis, in 274 AD.
• Belgrade, strategically and geographically positioned on the crossroads of the East and the West, is one of the oldest European cities, first settled in the 3rd century BC. It was home to many civilizations that have come and gone. It became the capital of Serbia for the first time in 1403 under Despot Stefan Lazarevic. It was also the capital of the South-Slavic state of Yugoslavia, which existed in various incarnations from 1918 until 2006. Today, Belgrade is the capital of the Republic of Serbia.