Serbia

WRITTEN BY:
 Thomas M. Poulsen
 John R. Lampe
 John B. Allcock
LAST UPDATED: Nov 1, 2019 See Article History
Alternative Title: Srbija
Serbia, country in the west-central Balkans. For most of the 20th century, it was a
part of Yugoslavia.



Serbia, mapEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Danube River; BelgradeBoats along the Danube River, Belgrade, Serbia.© ycko/iStock.com

The capital of Serbia is Belgrade (Beograd), a cosmopolitan city at the confluence of

the Danube and Sava rivers; Stari Grad, Belgrade’s old town, is dominated by an
ancient fortress called the Kalemegdan and includes well-preserved examples
of medieval architecture and some of eastern Europe’s most-renowned restaurants.
Serbia’s second city, Novi Sad, lies upstream on the Danube; a cultural and
educational centre, it resembles the university towns of nearby Hungary in many
respects.
 SerbiaEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Beginning in the 1920s, Serbia was an integral part of Yugoslavia (meaning “Land of
the South Slavs”), which included the modern countries of
Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia,
and Montenegro. Long ruled in turn by the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary,
these component nations combined in 1918 to form an independent federation known
as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. In 1929 that federation was
formally constituted as Yugoslavia. Serbia was the dominant part in this multiethnic
union, though after World War II the nonaligned communist government of Josip
Broz Tito accorded some measure of autonomy to the constituent republics and
attempted to balance contending interests by dividing national administrative
responsibilities (e.g., for intelligence and defense) along ethnic lines.
 The historical boundaries of Yugoslavia from 1919 to 1992.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

00:5903:22

After Tito’s death in 1980 and the collapse of communism in eastern Europe over the
course of the following decade, resurgent nationalism reopened old rifts in Yugoslav
society. Serbian (and later Yugoslav) leader Slobodan Milošević attempted to craft a
“Greater Serbia” from the former union, but his policies instead led to the secession of
Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia and civil war in the early
1990s. The civil war caused the death or displacement of hundreds of thousands of
people and prompted international sanctions against the country. In the late 1990s
more blood was spilled when the Albanian-Muslim-dominated
Serbian province of Kosovo declared independence, resulting in the intervention of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations, the bombing
of Belgrade, and the placement of Kosovo under UN administration from mid-1999.
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Today
Milošević was later defeated in presidential elections and arrested and tried before
the International Court of Justice for war crimes, but the rump Yugoslavia remained
unstable, as Montenegro threatened to declare independence before negotiating an
agreement that maintained the country’s unification in a loose federation. In 2003,
after the ratification of the pact by the parliaments of Serbia, Montenegro, and
Yugoslavia, the renamed Serbia and Montenegro replaced Yugoslavia on the
European map. In 2006 this loose federation came to an end, as Montenegro and
Serbia were recognized as independent nations. Meanwhile, multilateral talks to
determine Kosovo’s future status failed to yield a solution acceptable to both Serbs
and Kosovars. Despite Serbia’s opposition, Kosovo formally seceded in February
2008.
Likening the strife and dissolution that ravaged the country during the 1990s to
a children’s game, Serbian poet Vasko Popa once wrote:
If you’re not smashed to bits,
If you’re still in one piece and get up in one piece,
You can start playing.

By the early 21st century, Serbia was putting behind it the tragedy of its recent past to
rebuild as a singular, independent country on a new Balkan Peninsula.

Land
Bounding the country to the west are the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the
Slavonian region of the Republic of Croatia. Serbia adjoins Hungary to the
north, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, North Macedonia to the south,
and Montenegro to the southwest. Kosovo, which Serbia does not recognize as an
independent country, lies to the south as well, along the northwestern border
of Albania.
 Serbia, mapEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Relief
The landforms of Serbia, a landlocked country, fall into regional groupings that
roughly parallel the republic’s major political divisions. The plains of the
northern Vojvodina region generally lie at elevations between 200 and 350 feet (60 to
100 metres) above sea level. The Fruška Gora hills interrupt these plains on the west,
stretching along a triangle of land between the Danube and Sava rivers. Their highest
point is 1,765 feet (540 metres). Much of the Vojvodina is blanketed by portions of a
former plateau that rose up to 100 feet (30 metres) above the territory’s floodplains;
the remnants are composed of fine particles of loess deposited by winds during the
last glacial period in Europe.
Hills and high mountains characterize the central body of Serbia. Its western margins
include sections of the Dinaric Alps, and its eastern borderlands are part of
the Carpathian and Rhodope mountain systems. Between these flanking mountains lie
the Šumadija hills, the core of the medieval Serbian state.
 Cultivating corn in the wooded hills of the Šumadija region, west of Bor, Serbia. In the right foreground is a plum
tree, the fruit of which is used to make slivovitz, a plum brandy.Thomas M. Poulsen

The granite ridge of the Kopaonik Mountains, in Serbia’s southwestern Dinaric zone,
reaches 6,617 feet (2,017 metres). This is a tectonically active region notable for
earthquakes. To the east the Carpathians are nearly as high; one peak in the Balkan
Mountains (Stara Planina) bordering Bulgaria attains an elevation of more than 7,000
feet (2,100 metres). Summits of the Šumadija hills range from 2,000 to 3,500 feet
(600 to 1,100 metres).
Serbia’s northeastern border follows the Iron Gate (Ðerdap) gorge of the Danube
River, the most spectacular such feature in Europe. For a distance of 60 miles (100
km), the Danube flows across the Carpathian range, its bed dropping 90 feet (30
metres). The gorge consists of four narrow constrictions connected by three basins.
Before the flooding that followed completion of the joint Yugoslav-Romanian Ðerdap
hydroelectric dam in 1972, rocky outcrops confined the river at one point to a width of
only 300 feet (90 metres). Upstream, in the Vojvodina plains, the Danube attains
widths of up to 2 miles (3 km) and depths of 45 feet (14 metres) or more.
Serbia

flag of Serbia

National anthem of Serbia

OFFICIAL NAME

Republika Srbija1 (Republic of Serbia)

FORM OF GOVERNMENT

republic with one legislative house (National Assembly [250])

HEAD OF STATE

President: Aleksandar Vučić

HEAD OF GOVERNMENT

Prime Minister: Ana Brnabić

CAPITAL

Belgrade
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Serbian
OFFICIAL RELIGION

none
MONETARY UNIT

Serbian dinar (RSD)

POPULATION

(2018 est.) 6,987,000

POPULATION RANK

(2018) 107
POPULATION PROJECTION 2030

6,586,000
TOTAL AREA (SQ MI)

29,957
TOTAL AREA (SQ KM)

77,589
 DENSITY: PERSONS PER SQ MI

(2018) 233.2
DENSITY: PERSONS PER SQ KM

(2018) 90.1
URBAN-RURAL POPULATION

Urban: (2018) 56.1%

Rural: (2018) 43.9%
LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH

Male: (2016) 73.2 years

Female: (2016) 77.9 years
LITERACY: PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION AGE 15 AND OVER LITERATE

Male: not available

Female: not available
GNI (U.S.$ ’000,000)

(2017) 36,382
GNI PER CAPITA (U.S.$)

(2017) 5,180
 1
Excludes Kosovo, a disputed transitional republic that declared its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008, unless
otherwise indicated.

Drainage
Serbia’s drainage is primarily to the Danubian system and flows into the Black Sea.
The Tisa River is the most prominent tributary of the Danube in the Vojvodina,
entering the province from Hungary south of the city of Szeged. Runoff from the
southern slopes of the Fruška Gora flows into the Sava River, a major western
tributary of the Danube.
The Morava, or Velika Morava, River is the largest stream entirely within Serbia. It
has a length of 290 miles (470 km) and flows northward into the Danube, draining
two-fifths of Serbian territory. Tributaries of the Vardar River tap a small section of
southeastern Serbia; the river itself flows southward across North Macedonia to
the Aegean Sea. The valleys of the Morava and Vardar rivers have constituted a major
route between central Europe and the eastern Mediterranean since prehistoric times. A
railroad and modern highway now follow this ancient path.
Other than reservoirs behind hydroelectric dams, Serbia has no appreciable lakes. Its
largest natural body of water is Lake Palić in the Vojvodina, with a surface area of
less than 2 square miles (5 square km).

Soils
Three principal soil types characterize the region, corresponding to its major divisions
in landforms and climate. The subhumid plains and tablelands of the Vojvodina north
and east of the Danube are characterized by organically rich black earth soils
(chernozems) derived from the decaying root systems of countless generations of
native grasses. In the forested hills and mountains south of the Danube, the soils tend
to be less-fertile and weakly acidic brown podzolics. In cultivated areas these have
been enriched by the incorporation of nutrients from fodder crops and animal
manures. Infertile podzol soils predominate in the mountains and are characterized by
an ash-coloured upper layer resulting from the leaching of all but their insoluble
quartz particles by the acids generated in the slow decay of pine needles and other
litter of the forest floors.
Climate
Differences in elevation, proximity to the sea, and exposure to wind lead to significant
climatic differences within Serbia. In general, however, the climate is continental,
with cold, relatively dry winters and warm, humid summers. The difference between
average temperatures in January and July in Belgrade is 40 °F (22 °C).
The Vojvodina most clearly exhibits characteristics of the continental climate. July
temperatures average about 71 °F (22 °C), and January temperatures hover around 30
°F (−1 °C). Summer temperatures in mountainous areas of Serbia are notably cooler,
averaging about 64 °F (18 °C). Air masses from eastern and northern Europe
predominate throughout the year. Only occasionally do Mediterranean air masses
reach Serbia from the southeast or south.

Precipitation in Serbia ranges from 22 to 75 inches (560 to 1,900 mm) per year,
depending on elevation and exposure. The lowest amounts are found in the
Vojvodina. Most precipitation falls during the warm half of the year, with maximums
occurring in late spring and late autumn. Winter precipitation tends to fall as snow,
with 40 days of snow cover in northern lowlands and 120 days in the mountains.

Plant and animal life

The vegetation of Serbia forms a transition between central European and
Mediterranean types. Before Austrian agricultural colonization began in the 18th
century, the dry Vojvodina plains were a grassland steppe. However, it is evident that
forests at one time dominated the region. Only about 5 percent of the area is now
covered by trees, mostly in the higher parts of the Fruška Gora and in
wetlands adjacent to the Danube and Sava.
Up to one-third of Serbia proper is in broad-leaved forest, mostly oak and beech. The
regional name Šumadija literally means “forested area,” but large areas that were
formerly wooded long have been cleared and put to cultivation. In mountainous areas
trees cover two-fifths or more of the territory, depending on elevation and soil
thickness.
Serbia has a rich diversity of wild animals. Among larger mammals, deer and bear
abound in forested areas. Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a distinctive feature of beech
forests in the mountains.
People
Most of the population of Serbia and neighbouring Montenegro is of South
Slavic origin. Slavic tribes entered the region from the north during the 5th to 7th
century CE, encountering Illyrian-speaking peoples. Although the Slavs acculturated
large numbers of Illyrians, many of the latter retained their distinctive language and
customs in the complex hills and valleys of present-day Albania.
Cleavages between southern Slav tribes developed over time, particularly after the
establishment in the 4th century CE of the north-south “Theodosian Line” demarcating
the eastern and western segments of the Roman Empire. Organization of the Christian
church subsequently was based on this division. Missionaries from Rome converted
Slavic tribes in the west to Roman Catholicism (these tribal groups becoming
progenitors of the Slovenes and Croatians), while missionaries from Constantinople
converted ancestors of Serbs and Montenegrins to Eastern Orthodoxy.
Ethnic groups
The early Serbian homeland was in the vicinity of Serbia’s Kopaonik Mountains,
including the Kosovo Basin and the region around the ancient capital of Ras (near
modern Novi Pazar). After Ottoman armies overran this region in the 14th century,
many Serb families fled the southern basins and found shelter northward in the hills of
Šumadija. Albanian tribal groups then moved into former Serbian settlements.
 Serbia: Ethnic compositionEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

More than four-fifths of the population of Serbia identifies itself as Serb. The
principal minorities are Hungarians and Bosniaks (Bosnian
Muslims). Roma (Gypsies) make up a small but distinctive group. Other minorities
include Croats, Montenegrins, Bulgarians, and Romanians.
Excluding the Vojvodina, Serbs make up the vast majority of the inhabitants of Serbia
proper. The proportion of Serbs there grew markedly during the 1990s, owing to an
influx of Serbian refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Minority
populations of Bosniaks, located in the southwest, and Albanians, scattered
throughout Serbia proper, declined as many refugees fled to Bosnia and Kosovo.
In the Vojvodina, Serbs constitute slightly more than half of an
exceptionally diverse population. Serbian refugees from the secessionist republics
account for about one-eighth of the province’s total population. The second largest
group is the Hungarians. At one time a large number of Germans lived in the
Vojvodina, but the new communist government expelled virtually all German
speakers in 1945. This group had descended from Austrian and German families
brought to the Vojvodina by the Austrian empress Maria Theresa during the 18th
century.
Before violence erupted in Kosovo in the late 1990s, Albanians constituted more than
three-fourths of the province’s population, despite the fact that most Serbs
traditionally considered Kosovo to be their cultural hearth. In the 1990s the regime
of Slobodan Milošević engaged in a fierce struggle in Kosovo with Albanians who
sought independence for the province after its autonomous status was revoked.
Following clashes between Serbian police and military and the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA), the Yugoslav government forced hundreds of thousands of Albanians to
abandon their homes and flee to other countries, a process that came to be known as
“ethnic cleansing.” In the wake of military intervention by NATO, many such
refugees returned. After the peace agreement between NATO and Yugoslavia, some
200,000 Serbs and Roma fled Kosovo. When Kosovo declared independence in 2008,
Albanians accounted for the overwhelming majority of its population.
Languages
Unlike Romanians or Hungarians, Serbs do not have a distinct language to set them
apart from their neighbours. They speak essentially the same language as Croats,
Bosniaks, and Montenegrins, although some pronunciation and vocabulary are
distinctive. This language, linguistically termed Serbo-Croatian, is now identified as
Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, or Montenegrin, depending on the ethnicity of the
speaker. It is in its written form that Serbian differs from Bosnian and Croatian.
Reflecting Serbian religious heritage, it uses a modified version of the Cyrillic
alphabet—a script originally developed by the Orthodox missionary brothers Saints
Cyril and Methodius. Croatian is written in the Latin script of other Roman Catholic
lands. At one time Bosnian used the Arabic alphabet, but it has also adopted the Latin
alphabet. Serbian differs slightly from Montenegrin in the use of three letters, and
Montenegrins use both the Cyrillic and the Latin. The Hungarian population’s Uralic
language is unrelated to Serbian.
Religion
The distinguishing feature of Serbian national identity is its Eastern
Orthodox Christian heritage, though probably less than one-tenth of the population
actually attended church during the communist era. Throughout history the
autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church has viewed itself as the champion of Serbian
national interests. During the Ottoman period it waged a long struggle against the
influence of Greek clergy based in Constantinople. Because of its nationalist
activities, the Ottoman regime suppressed the Serbian church from 1766 to
1832. Hungarians in the Vojvodina are divided between Roman Catholic and
Calvinist Protestant groups.
 Serbia: Religious affiliationEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Settlement patterns

Urban settlement

For many years a steady stream of migrants left marginal parts of Serbia to settle
in Belgrade and other developed areas. According to the 1948 census, only one-fifth
of Serbs were urban, but by the early 21st century more than half of Serbia’s
population was city-dwelling. Nevertheless, truly urban settlements in Serbia are
relatively few. Belgrade achieved a population in excess of one million by virtue of its
role as capital both of Serbia and of Yugoslavia (and its successor, Serbia and
Montenegro). Other urban areas are market towns and centres of regional
administration.
 Serbia: Urban-ruralEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Rural settlement

Significant differences exist between rural settlements in upland areas and those in
Serbia’s basins and plains. Villages in the core region of Šumadija tend to be small,
lying dispersed along roads that follow the crests of ridges. Houses are mainly
constructed of logs or roughly sawn planks, with roofs of shingles; plaster frequently
covers outer walls. Houses are usually spaced close together. In the plains of the
Vojvodina, on the other hand, villages are large and widely spaced. They are much
more recent than most highland settlements, since they appeared only during the 18th
and 19th centuries, when Habsburg forces secured the Hungarian Plain. Most
commonly they exhibit a gridiron form, reflecting sites originally laid out by Austrian
military engineers.
 Subotica town hall, Vojvodina, Serb.© Maravic/iStock.com

Nucleated settlements of 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants are common in the Vojvodina.

Although they are larger than other rural settlements, they lack the nonagricultural
activities and amenities that would classify them as urban. Their large size is derived
from the early concern that farm colonists needed protection against raids from the
Ottoman-controlled south; it also facilitated control of the workforce by landowners
who had gained extensive farming territories. Typically, houses in villages are
elongated, with ends adjacent to the streets. Fences or walls, often with elaborate
gates, join adjacent houses to mark courtyards and to afford privacy and protection.
As the threat of Ottoman border raids waned in the 19th and 20th centuries, individual
farmsteads began to appear in open fields between large villages. Originally serving
as shelters during harvest times, these salaj (Hungarian: tanyák) later became family
homes. Such dispersed farmsteads now give parts of the Vojvodina an appearance
similar to the American Midwest.
Demographic trends
The rate of population increase differs markedly by region. Between the 1971 and
1981 censuses, the total population of Serbia grew 10 percent. However, within the
country, the Vojvodina had a net growth of only about 5 percent, while Kosovo, then
a province of Serbia, expanded by more than 25 percent. In the 1980s the latter’s
predominantly Albanian population had a birth rate double that of the rest of Serbia.
Warfare in Kosovo dramatically altered population growth and settlement patterns in
that region in the 1990s, with large numbers of Albanian refugees entering the
province from other parts of Serbia. Today a life expectancy of about 70 years is
characteristic of all parts of the country.

Serbia: Age breakdownEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Economy
In 1945 Yugoslavia adopted a socialist economic system modeled on institutions in
the Soviet Union, but, following its break with the Communist Information Bureau
(Cominform) in 1948, a system evolved that allowed increasing opportunity for
individual enterprise. Most farmers were gathered into collective farms until this
unpopular policy was abandoned after 1953. In Serbia the institution continued mainly
in former German estates in the Vojvodina, where the regime had resettled migrants
from mountainous regions of Serbia and Montenegro. The communist regime also
nationalized existing industrial enterprises and embarked on an ambitious policy of
rapidly creating more. Using funds derived from the profits of manufacturing plants in
the long-developed industrial regions of Slovenia and Croatia, it created large
numbers of new enterprises in Serbia and other former Ottoman parts of Yugoslavia.
Many manufacturing sites, however, were selected with an eye to providing job
opportunities for political constituencies rather than for inherent advantages in the
production process. Such enterprises continue to be called “political factories.”
Nevertheless, the economy of Yugoslavia grew rapidly for the ensuing three decades,
although production in the southern republics significantly lagged behind that of the
developed northern areas of Croatia and Slovenia. This lag largely reflected the long
association of the southern regions with the Ottoman Empire, whose
ineffectual bureaucracy had done little to promote investment, technology transfer,
and improvements to the infrastructure within its lands. Within Serbia, only in the
Habsburg-controlled Vojvodina did a commercialized economy emerge during the
19th century. Indeed, the inhabitants of Kosovo never achieved an annual per capita
income greater than 15 percent of that of Slovenia during the entire period of greater
Yugoslavia. Part of Kosovo’s problem could be attributed to its exceptionally rapid
population growth. It is estimated that income per person in Kosovo would have
doubled if the province’s demographic rate had slowed to that of the developed
northern regions.
After the break with the Soviet bloc in 1948, worker self-management in factories and
institutions was adopted. This program, which sought to address problems inherent in
the highly centralized Soviet model of socialism, was codified in the Law on
Associated Labour of 1976. Each Yugoslav worker belonged to a Basic Organization
of Associated Labour (BOAL) that was based on the precise role played by the worker
in the production process. The BOALs elected representatives to workers’ councils,
which in turn created management boards and determined pay levels, investment
policies, and specific goals for production. The workers’ councils also selected a
director of the institution, who was charged with running the organization on a day-to-
day basis. This system of self-management included not only factories and retail
establishments but also schools, health clinics, and other public service institutions.
Although self-management permitted a degree of flexibility in managerial decision
making, worker involvement in the BOALs led to substantial costs in time
and efficiency. Management councils in factories tended to favour short-term
increases in wages at the expense of long-term capital investments in more productive
equipment. Dissatisfaction with self-management, and also with the diversion of
profits to less-developed regions, played a large role in the secession of Croatia and
Slovenia, both of which embarked on a program of economic privatization and
complete repudiation of the socialist system. Socialist self-management remained in
the reduced federation, but it faced daunting economic problems. Agriculture in
Serbia has shifted notably from livestock to crop production and from commercial to
subsistence provision. Industry similarly has regressed from the high-technology
production of consumer durables to the making of single-use commodities.
Widespread criminality and corruption also have taken their toll.
Not only did Serbia suffer from the loss of established markets and sources of raw
materials in the other republics, but its labour forces exhibited markedly
low discipline and productivity, which made it difficult to compete in world markets.
Privatization of the economy began in 1990, but by the early 21st century only about
one-third of output was derived from private production, which was largely
concentrated in agriculture, retail trade, and services.
Economic sanctions imposed by the international community in the 1990s in response
to the aggressive policies of Yugoslav dictator Milošević in Bosnia and
Herzegovina severely stifled the rump federation’s economy, contributing to shortages
of food, goods, and fossil fuels, as well as to elevated rates of inflation. Indeed, in the
late 1990s some 20,000 Yugoslav companies—nearly one-third of the country’s
total—were declared officially insolvent.
Air strikes by NATO in 1999 destroyed a significant portion of the transportation
infrastructure and industrial facilities in Serbia, and an embargo on petroleum imports
further exacerbated the federation’s economic malaise. Although humanitarian aid has
softened the blow, the economy has yet to fully recover. After Milošević—later
arrested and tried for war crimes—was ousted from power in democratic elections in
2000, international aid began to flow back into the country and sanctions were lifted.
In particular, the European Union (EU) offered Yugoslavia and other countries of the
western Balkans an opportunity to open negotiations for a “Stabilization and
Association Agreement,” which would permit greater opportunities for trade with the
EU.
Agriculture and forestry
Agriculture has long been the mainstay of Serbia’s economy. Although fewer than
one-fourth of economically active Serbs are now employed in farming (compared
with nearly three-fourths in 1948), cropland occupies nearly two-thirds of Serbia’s
territory. The principal area of commercial agriculture is the Vojvodina region
and adjacent lowlands south of the Sava and Danube rivers, including the valley of the
north-flowing Morava River. Three-fourths of sown crops in Serbia are grains. Corn
(maize) predominates, occupying some one-third of the cropland, and wheat is next in
importance. Other noteworthy crops are sugar beets, sunflowers, potatoes, oilseeds,
hemp, and flax. Fruits and vegetables are also cultivated.
Hillsides are used mainly for raising animals. Pigs particularly forage in woodland
areas. Dairy farming is a feature of the Šumadija hills south of Belgrade. Limited
areas are sown with rye and oats. Orchards also are characteristic of upland areas—
particularly plums, which form the basis for the production of slivovitz, a brandy that
is the national drink. Owing to demand from western Europe, raspberries have
become an important crop. Farming tends to be on a subsistence basis in the Serbian
uplands. Rural families produce a range of crops for their own consumption. Some
areas also produce tobacco commercially. In most villages vegetables are grown in
garden plots adjacent to houses. Although woodlands in Serbia are plentiful,
commercial forestry plays a relatively minor role.
Resources and power

Natural resources

Serbia is endowed with substantial natural resources, but it is notably deficient in

mineral fuels. Some coal has been developed in the northeast, and the possibility
exists for the expansion of mining there. The little petroleum that has been discovered
is located in the Vojvodina. Among metallic ores, Serbia has some of Europe’s largest
resources of copper. Concentrations of copper ore are located in the Carpathian
Mountains near the borders with Bulgaria and Romania. Substantial amounts of iron
ore also are present in this area. Northwestern Serbia, in the vicinity of the town
of Krupanj, contains up to one-tenth of the world’s supply of antimony, though there
is now little demand for the product. Serbia’s southwestern upland regions have
timber and hydroelectric potential.
Mining and copper smelting developed in northeastern Serbia
around Bor and Majdanpek. Lignite and bituminous coal are mined in the Kolubara
River valley southwest of Belgrade and in parts of eastern Serbia.
Energy

Hydroelectric power and coal are the principal sources of energy in Serbia, which has
no nuclear power stations. Facilities at the Ðerdap dam on the Danube generate
significant electric power. The Bajina Bašta development on the Drina River ranks
second as a hydroelectric generating source. Because the Drina forms part of Serbia’s
border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, this creates a difficult problem
for allocating power production.
Serbia’s large coal-burning power stations, which burn lignite from local beds, are
located southwest of Belgrade, in the Kolubara River valley near the town of
Obrenovac. A small thermoelectric plant using natural gas operates in the Vojvodina
capital of Novi Sad.

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