Home » Destinations » Europe »

Kosovo

Population: 1,733,842 (est.)

Language(s): Albanian, Serbian

Capital: Pristina

Interesting Facts:

The Euro (€) and the Serbian Dinar are the currencies of Kosovo.
The two main religions of Kosovo are Islam and Christianity. The great majority of Kosovo Albanians (perhaps 97%) have Muslim family backgrounds.
The economy of Kosovo is a transition economy.
Both unemployment and poverty rates are estimated at close to half the population.
Kosovo has a very broad climate. Summer temperature highs can reach +30 °C (86 °F), winter’s temperatures as low as −10 °C (14 °F).
Education is also a problem in Kosovo due to insufficient funding and classroom space.
Kosovo has the highest morbidity rates in Europe in terms of diseases transmitted by water.
Agriculture, mining and micro-enterprises are the major industries prevailing in the country.
Basketball, boxing, canoeing, chess, gymnastics, soccer, swimming and table tennis are amongst the most popular sports.

The Republic of Kosovo is a partially recognised state in Southeastern Europe. Its largest city and capital is Pristina. Kosovo is landlocked and is bordered by the Republic of Macedonia to the south, Albania to the west and Montenegro to the northwest. The remaining line of demarcation is the subject of controversy — seen by proponents of Kosovan independence as the Kosovo-Serbia border and seen by opponents of the independence as the boundary between Central Serbia and an autonomous Kosovo within Serbia. Kosovo institutions have control over most of the territory of Kosovo, while North Kosovo, the largest Serb-majority enclave, is largely outside their control and is run by local Serbian institutions with funds and support from Belgrade.

Following an insurgency by Albanians from 1997-1999, after a failure to produce results from non-violent resistance to Serbian rule from 1990, NATO launched a 78-day assault on FR Yugoslavia to halt the war in Kosovo. In 1999 the United Nations through UNMIK began overseeing the administration of the province after a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution. On 17 February 2008 Kosovo’s Parliament declared independence, as the “Republic of Kosovo”, which has received recognition from some nation states. Serbia and a number of other countries do not recognise the unilateral secession of Kosovo and consider it a UN-governed province within its sovereign territory.

The Republic of Kosovo has been recognised by by 98 UN member states and is a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and International Road and Transport Union (IRU); it is set to join the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Source: Wikipedia