Location | |
Flag | |
Quick Facts | |
Capital | Pristina |
Government | Parliamentary democracy |
Currency | Euro (€) |
Area | 10,887 km² |
Population | 2,126,708 |
Language | Albanian 90�% (official), Serbian 6�% (official), Turkish, Romany |
Religion | Muslim 92�%, Orthodox 6�%, Roman Catholic 1�% |
Electricity | 230V/50Hz (European plug) |
Calling Code | +381, +377, +386 |
Internet TLD | None |
Time Zone | UTC +1 |
Kosovo (Albanian: Kosova, Serbian: Kосово и Метохија, Kosovo i Metohija) is a disputed territory and "de-facto" independent country in South Eastern Europe. After a lengthy and often violent dispute with Serbia, Kosovo declared independence in February 2008 and is recognised by 86 countries out of 193 around the world, despite heavy Serbian opposition . Kosovo's far north along with two small regions elsewhere are under the local control of their Serbian authorities indicating a Serb majority in these parts. Kosovo is largely an Albanian-speaking and Muslim area (though secular), but there are also significant numbers of minorities living within its borders, especially Serbs. Kosovo borders Albania to the west, Montenegro to the northwest, Macedonia to the south, and Serbia (from its perspective) to the northeast; the latter frontier is viewed by Serbia as being an internal boundary separating Kosovo as an internal province with Central Serbia.
While the legitimacy of the Kosovar government is disputed by some countries, from a traveller's point of view the Kosovar government has de facto control of most of the the country; local Serb authorities administer five municipalities. This is not a political endorsement of claims by either side in the dispute. |