Kosovo
Name
| Official name | Republic of Kosovo — Republika e Kosovës; Republika Kosovo (Република Косово) |
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| Status | A partly recognized state — recognized by about 100 UN member states, not by Serbia, Russia, China, five EU members or most of Asia and Africa; not a UN member; the "Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija" under Serbia's constitution; the ICJ's advisory opinion of 22 July 2010 that the declaration violated no law |
| Former names | The Vilayet of Kosovo under the Ottomans (1877–1912); the Autonomous Region and Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia and Yugoslavia (1945–1999); the UN-administered province under resolution 1244 (1999–2008) |
| Demonym | Kosovar; Kosovo Albanian and Kosovo Serb |
| Meaning of the name | Kosovo Polje — "the field of blackbirds," from the Serbian kos; Kosova in Albanian; Metohija, the "monastic lands," for the west, in the Serbian name |
| Motto | None official |
Quick facts
| Capital | Pristina — Prishtinë, Priština — the capital since 2008 and the seat of the province before; about 230,000, some 500,000 in the area |
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| Largest cities | Pristina; Prizren, about 150,000; Ferizaj; Peja; Gjakova; Gjilan; Mitrovica, divided at the Ibar bridge; Vushtrri; Podujeva |
| Official languages | Albanian and Serbian; Turkish, Bosnian and Romani official in the municipalities where they are spoken |
| Currency | Euro — EUR, €; adopted unilaterally in 2002, outside the eurozone; the Serbian dinar in the north, barred from payments since February 2024 |
| Time zone | Central European Time, UTC+1; summer time UTC+2 |
| Calling code | +383 — since 2017, by the Brussels agreement, the Serbian +381 and Monaco's +377 before |
| Internet domain | .xk — reserved and not delegated; .rs, .al and the generic domains in use |
| ISO 3166 codes | XK, a user-assigned code, used by the EU, the IMF and the passports; XKX at the World Bank; no official ISO code |
| Vehicle registration code | RKS |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Independence | 17 February 2008, declared from Serbia by the Assembly — Hashim Thaçi prime minister; the first declaration of 2 July 1990 recognized by Albania alone |
| National days | 17 February, Independence Day; 9 April, Constitution Day; 12 June, Peace Day, for NATO's entry in 1999; 28 November, Albanian Flag Day; 1 January, 1 May, Easter and Christmas of both calendars, the Muslim feasts, 8 March and 6 May, St. George's Day |
| Constitution | 15 June 2008 — the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, adopted 9 April 2008 under the Ahtisaari plan; the president elected by two-thirds of the Assembly for five years, the guaranteed seats of the minorities; amended 2012 with the end of supervised independence |
| Population | About 1.59 million at the census of April 2024 — down from 1,739,825 in 2011, the north's Serbs boycotting both counts; about 1.6 million (2025 est.) |
| Area | 10,887 km² (4,203 sq mi) — landlocked |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A blue field with a golden map of the country beneath an arc of six white stars — the six communities of Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Gorani, Roma and Bosniaks — in the manner of the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the colors of Europe; chosen by the Assembly from a competition of nearly a thousand entries on 17 February 2008, the day of independence; the red flag of Albania flown beside it by most.Flag of Kosovo |
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| Coat of arms | The same map and six stars on a blue shield with a gold border; adopted 17 February 2008 |
| National anthem | "Europe" — "Evropa," "Evropa" — music by Mendi Mengjiqi, without words, so that no language is favored, one of the few wordless anthems in the world; adopted 11 June 2008 |
| National colors | Blue, gold and white |
| National animal | None designated — the Sharr dog, the Sharplaninac, the lynx of the mountains and the eagle of the Albanian flag widely cited |
| National flower | None designated — the peony of the field of Kosovo, red in the Serbian legend of the battle's blood, widely cited |
| National dish | Flija — the layered pancake of the mountains baked under the saç; the tavë kosi of lamb and yogurt; the burek; the pite; the ajvar of the autumn; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by the Constitution and the laws of 2008; the animal, flower and dishes widely cited, none designated |
Geography
| Location | The central Balkans — landlocked between Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the south, Albania to the west and Montenegro to the northwest |
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| Land borders | 714 km (444 mi) with four neighbors — Serbia 366, North Macedonia 160, Albania 112, Montenegro 76; the Montenegrin line ratified 2018, the Serbian line the boundary of the dispute |
| Coastline | None — landlocked; the Adriatic at Durrës the nearest sea, by the highway to Albania |
| Highest point | Gjeravica, 2,656 m (8,714 ft), in the Accursed Mountains on the Albanian border |
| Lowest point | The White Drin at the Albanian border, 297 m (974 ft) |
| Mean elevation | 450 m (1,476 ft) |
| Rivers and lakes | The White Drin — Drini i Bardhë — 175 km, to the Adriatic; the Ibar through Mitrovica to the Morava and the Danube; the Sitnica of the plain of Kosovo; the Lepenac to the Vardar; Lake Gazivoda, the reservoir of 1977 on the Ibar, the water of the north and of the capital, its dam in Serb hands and its control the quarrel; the glacial lakes of the Sharr |
| Terrain | Two basins — the plain of Kosovo in the east around Pristina, at about 550 m, and the Dukagjin, Metohija, in the west around Peja and Prizren — parted by the hills of the Drenica; the Sharr Mountains in the south, the Accursed Mountains in the west, the Kopaonik in the north |
| Climate | Continental — cold winters with snow, warm summers; the west milder with the Mediterranean air through the Drin; about 600 mm of rain |
| Natural hazards | Earthquakes — the Balkans' faults, Gjilan 2002; floods of the Sitnica and the Drin; the winter smog of Pristina from the lignite plants and the stoves, among the worst air in Europe; drought |
| Natural resources | Lignite — the fifth-largest reserves in the world, about 12 billion metric tons, the fuel of the two power plants; lead, zinc and silver of the Trepča mines of Mitrovica, the largest in the Balkans and idle; nickel, chromium, bauxite; the forests |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 53%; forest about 42% |
| National parks | 2 — the Sharr Mountains, Sharri, of 1986, with the Brezovica ski slopes and the lynx; Bjeshkët e Nemuna, the Accursed Mountains, of 2012, with Gjeravica and the Rugova gorge |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 1 — the Medieval Monuments in Kosovo, listed in 2004 and extended in 2006 under Serbia's nomination and name: the Dečani monastery, the Patriarchate of Peć, Our Lady of Ljeviš and Gračanica, the Serbian Orthodox churches of the 14th century, on the danger list since 2006; Kosovo's own bid for UNESCO membership failed by three votes in 2015 |
| Administrative divisions | 7 districts — Pristina, Prizren, Peja, Mitrovica, Gjilan, Gjakova and Ferizaj — of 38 municipalities, 10 of them Serb-majority, the four of the north — North Mitrovica, Zvečan, Zubin Potok and Leposavić — under the dispute's weight; the Association of Serb Municipalities agreed in 2013 and never formed |
People
| Population | About 1.59 million (census of 2024); about 1.6 million (2025 est.) |
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| Population density | About 146 per km² (378 per sq mi) |
| Population growth | About −0.5% a year — the births above the deaths and the emigration above both |
| Median age | About 30 years — the youngest in Europe |
| Life expectancy | About 74 years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.6 births per woman — from 4 in the 1990s |
| Urban population | About 40% |
| Adult literacy | About 92% |
| Ethnic groups | Albanian about 93%; Serb about 4%, in the north and the enclaves, undercounted by the boycotts; Bosniak, Turkish, Gorani, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian about 3% (census of 2024 and estimates) |
| Languages | Albanian by about 93%, in the Gheg dialect; Serbian by the Serbs; Turkish in Prizren and Mamusha; Bosnian, Gorani, Romani; English by the young, German by the returned |
| Religion | Muslim about 93%, Sunni, of the Albanians, Bosniaks, Turks and Gorani, lightly held by most; Roman Catholic about 2%, the Albanians of Gjakova and Prizren, Mother Teresa's people; Serbian Orthodox about 1.5%, the Serbs; the secular state (census of 2024) |
| Human Development Index | Not ranked — Kosovo is not a UN member and the UNDP publishes no index for it; the World Bank and the government's estimates in the "high" range, about 0.76, near Albania's and North Macedonia's |
| The Serbs of the north | About 40,000 to 50,000 in the four northern municipalities across the Ibar, living under Belgrade's parallel institutions, pensions and schools — the barricades of 2022, the mayors elected on 3% turnout in 2023 and the riot at Zvečan of 29 May 2023 that injured 90 KFOR soldiers, the Banjska attack of 24 September 2023 by armed Serbs that killed a Kosovo policeman and three of them; the dinar barred in 2024; the Serb List's return to the elections of 2025 |
| Sport | Football — the national team since 2016, the Dardanët, in the Nations League; judo — Majlinda Kelmendi's gold at Rio 2016, the country's first Olympic medal at its first Games, and the golds of Distria Krasniqi and Nora Gjakova at Tokyo, all women, all judokas; the Kosovo Olympic Committee recognized 2014; the players of the diaspora in the Swiss and Albanian sides |
| Diaspora | About 800,000 of Kosovar origin abroad — in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Italy and the United States — a third of the nation, the remittances of the summer their return |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary parliamentary republic under the Constitution of 2008 — the president elected by two-thirds of the Assembly for five years as head of state; the prime minister head of government with the Assembly's confidence; the 120-seat Assembly with 20 seats reserved for the minorities; the Constitutional Court |
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| President | Vacant — the office empty since 4 April 2026, when Vjosa Osmani's term ended without a successor; the Speaker of the Assembly, Albulena Haxhiu of Vetëvendosje, acting president since 4 April 2026 for at most six months under the Constitution; Osmani, president 2021–26, the second woman in the office, now a deputy for the Democratic League |
| Prime Minister | Albin Kurti (Vetëvendosje — Self-Determination), since 22 March 2021, and for a hundred days in 2020 — the leader of the movement he founded in 2005 out of the student protests of the 1990s, jailed by Serbia in 1999–2001; born 24 March 1975 in Pristina; a caretaker from the election of February 2025 until his government of 11 February 2026, a caretaker again from the failure of April until the government of 13 September 2026 |
| The crisis of 2026 | The Assembly's duty to elect a president 30 days before the term's end — the first vote of 5 March 2026 failed for want of a quorum; Osmani's decree of 6 March dissolving the Assembly, suspended by the Constitutional Court on 9 March and voided on 25 March, the court giving until 28 April; the vote of 28 April failed, Vetëvendosje with about 66 of the 80 votes needed and the opposition withholding theirs, Kurti having refused Osmani a second term; the Assembly dissolved and the election of 7 June called; the presidency the first duty of the new Assembly, the acting president's six months running out in October, a third failure meaning a fourth election in two years — "a constitutional showdown," in the agencies' words |
| The three elections | Held 9 February 2025 — Vetëvendosje 42% and 48 seats, no government formed in ten months, the PDK and the LDK refusing; 28 December 2025 — Vetëvendosje above 50% and a majority with the minority parties, the government of 11 February 2026 approved by 66 votes; 7 June 2026 — Vetëvendosje first with about 43%, the majority lost, the PDK and the LDK next, Osmani on the LDK's list; the government of 13 September 2026 approved by 62 votes with the minority parties' support after three months of paralysis |
| Parliament | The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo — 120 members elected for four years by open-list proportional representation with a 5% threshold, 10 seats reserved for the Serbs and 10 for the other minorities; Haxhiu the Speaker, elected 11 February 2026 and again 9 September 2026 |
| The next election | The presidential election by the Assembly, due; the parliamentary due by 2030 if a president is chosen, sooner if not |
| The dialogue with Serbia | The EU-mediated dialogue since 2011 — the Brussels agreement of 19 April 2013 on the north and the Association of Serb Municipalities, never formed; the Washington agreement of 4 September 2020; the Ohrid agreement of 18 March 2023 on normalization, verbally accepted and unsigned; the license plates and the ID cards settled, the mayors and the dinar not; the EU's measures against Pristina of 2023, lifted in 2025; Serbia's campaign for derecognitions, about a dozen states withdrawn by its count and the count disputed |
| Recognition | About 100 UN members by Pristina's count in 2025 — the United States on 18 February 2008, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Japan, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf; not Serbia, Russia, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, Bosnia, Ukraine, Indonesia; the passports accepted by most; the Council of Europe bid of 2024 stalled, the UNESCO bid of 2015 lost, the Interpol bid of 2018 lost |
| The war and its court | The war of 1998–99 — the KLA against Milošević's forces, some 13,000 dead, most of them Albanian civilians, 800,000 driven out; NATO's bombing of 24 March to 10 June 1999; the UN mission UNMIK; the Kosovo Specialist Chambers at The Hague, a court of Kosovo under EU law, trying the KLA's leaders — Hashim Thaçi, the first prime minister and president, resigning in November 2020 to face charges of war crimes, on trial since April 2023 |
| Legal system | Civil law on the European models; the Constitutional Court that voided a dissolution in 2026; the Supreme Court; the EU rule-of-law mission EULEX of 2008–18, still present in part; the Specialist Chambers abroad |
| Municipalities | 38 with elected mayors and assemblies, the local elections of October 2025 and the runoffs of November; the ten Serb-majority ones |
| Defense | The Kosovo Security Force, founded 2009 and made an army by the law of December 2018 over Serbia's and NATO's objections, about 5,000 with the goal of 8,000; KFOR, NATO's force since 12 June 1999, about 4,600 from 28 nations, reinforced after 2023; Camp Bondsteel of the Americans; the aspiration to NATO and the Partnership for Peace blocked by the non-recognizers |
| United Nations | Not a member — the application blocked by Russia and China in the Security Council; UNMIK still on paper; the observer status sought |
| Memberships | The IMF and the World Bank since 2009; the Council of Europe Development Bank; the Venice Commission; the European Union's candidacy applied for on 15 December 2022 and not granted, the Stabilisation and Association Agreement of 2016, the visa-free travel in the Schengen area since 1 January 2024, the last of the Western Balkans; the Regional Cooperation Council; FIFA and the IOC since 2014–16 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$12 billion (2025, IMF) — the smallest economy of the Western Balkans after Montenegro's |
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| GDP per capita | About US$7,000 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$17,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 4% a year (2023–25) — steady, on the remittances and the diaspora's summer; inflation about 2% |
| Economy by sector | Services about 60%, industry about 30%, agriculture about 10% |
| Currency | Euro (EUR), unilaterally |
| Remittances | About €1.5 billion a year from the diaspora — about 15% of GDP, the largest source of foreign money, the summer spending of the returned as much again |
| Energy | Lignite — the two Kosovo A and B plants of the 1960s and 80s at Obiliq, among the dirtiest in Europe, for nearly all the electricity; the Kosovo C plant never built; the solar and wind of the 2020s; the imports of the winter and the outages |
| Mines and industry | Trepča, the lead, zinc and silver complex of Mitrovica, the largest in the Balkans, in ruin and dispute since 1999; the ferronickel of Ferronikeli; the metals, the wood and the plastics; the call centers and the software of the young |
| Trade | Exports about €1 billion of metals, plastics and food against imports of €6 billion — the deficit filled by the remittances; the CEFTA of the Balkans with the Serbian tariffs of 2018–20 and the "open Balkan" refused |
| Unemployment | About 11% by the survey of 2024, from 30% a decade before, the youth rate above 20% — the emigration the safety valve |
| Public finances | Public debt about 20% of GDP, among the lowest in Europe; the budget of about €3.5 billion; the pensions of the war veterans the fight |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Pristina International Airport "Adem Jashari" at Slatina — about 3.5 million passengers, most of them the diaspora, run by a French-Turkish concession since 2011; Gjakova, the NATO airfield, unused for civil flights |
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| Airline | No national carrier — Air Prishtina and the charters of the diaspora, Wizz Air, Pegasus, Edelweiss, Eurowings |
| Ports | None — landlocked; Durrës in Albania and Thessaloniki in Greece the ports |
| Railways | About 330 km (205 mi) — Trainkos, the Pristina–Skopje line to North Macedonia and the line north to Mitrovica and the Serbian border, closed at the divide; the Peja line; the rebuilding with the EU's Rail 10 corridor |
| Roads | About 2,000 km (1,240 mi) of national and regional roads; the R7, the "Ibrahim Rugova" highway to the Albanian border and Durrës, opened 2013 for €800 million, the country's largest project; the R6 "Arbën Xhaferi" to Skopje of 2019; the ring of Pristina |
| The bridge | The Ibar bridge of Mitrovica between the Albanian south and the Serb north — closed to cars since 2011, rebuilt by the EU in 2017 and never opened, the barricade of the dispute |
History in dates
| c. 4th century BC | The Dardanians — the Illyrian kingdom of Dardania |
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| c. 1220 | The Serbian Nemanjić state; the Patriarchate of Peć, 1346 |
| 1389 | The Battle of Kosovo, 15 June by the old calendar, 28 June by the new — Prince Lazar and Sultan Murad both dead; the myth of the Serbian nation |
| 1455 | The Ottoman conquest |
| 1878 | The League of Prizren, 10 June — the Albanian national movement |
| 1912 | Serbia takes Kosovo in the First Balkan War, October |
| 1945 | The Autonomous Region within Serbia in Tito's Yugoslavia |
| 1974 | The province made near a republic by the Constitution |
| 1981 | The student protests |
| 1989 | The autonomy revoked by Milošević, 23 March; his speech at Gazimestan, 28 June |
| 1990 | The Republic of Kosova declared, 2 July; the parallel state of Ibrahim Rugova |
| 1998 | The war — the Jashari family killed at Prekaz, 5–7 March |
| 1999 | Račak, 15 January; NATO's bombing, 24 March; the Serbian withdrawal, 10 June; KFOR and UNMIK |
| 2004 | The riots of 17 March — 19 dead, the churches burned |
| 2007 | The Ahtisaari plan |
| 2008 | Independence declared, 17 February; the Constitution, 15 June |
| 2010 | The ICJ's opinion, 22 July |
| 2013 | The Brussels agreement, 19 April |
| 2016 | Majlinda Kelmendi's gold at Rio, 7 August |
| 2020 | Thaçi resigns for The Hague, 5 November |
| 2021 | Kurti prime minister, 22 March; Osmani president, 4 April |
| 2023 | The Ohrid agreement, 18 March; Zvečan, 29 May; Banjska, 24 September |
| 2024 | Visa-free Schengen, 1 January; the dinar barred, 1 February; the census, April |
| 2025 | The election of 9 February; ten months without a government; the election of 28 December |
| 2026 | The government of 11 February; the presidency unfilled, 5 March and 28 April; the acting president, 4 April; the election of 7 June; the government of 13 September |
Records & firsts
| The youngest state in Europe | 17 February 2008 |
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| The youngest people in Europe | A median age of about 30 |
| The euro without the eurozone | Since 2002 |
| An anthem without words | "Europe" |
| A calling code of its own by treaty | +383, 2017 |
| The fifth-largest lignite reserves | About 12 billion metric tons |
| Three Olympic golds, all women, all judo | Kelmendi, Krasniqi, Gjakova |
| A third of the nation abroad | About 800,000 |
| Four elections in two years, nearly | 2025–26 |
| A state's founders tried by its own court abroad | The Specialist Chambers at The Hague |
| The last of the Balkans to travel visa-free | 1 January 2024 |
| A capital with a boulevard named for Bill Clinton | Pristina |
Frequently asked questions
Is Kosovo a country?
A partly recognized one. The Republic of Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, nine years after NATO's war ended Belgrade's rule over the province; the International Court of Justice found in 2010 that the declaration broke no international law; and about 100 of the 193 members of the United Nations recognize it, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and most of the European Union among them. Serbia, which holds Kosovo to be its autonomous province under its constitution, does not, nor do Russia and China, which block its UN membership, nor five EU states — Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia — nor India, Brazil or most of Africa and Asia; Belgrade counts recognitions withdrawn, Pristina disputes the count. The two have negotiated under the EU since 2011 without a settlement. This site lists it among the countries with its status stated.
What is the official name of Kosovo?
The Republic of Kosovo — Republika e Kosovës in Albanian, Republika Kosovo in Serbian, its two official languages. The name is Serbian, from kos, the blackbird, for the Field of Blackbirds, Kosovo Polje, where the battle of 1389 was fought; the Albanians write it Kosova. Under Yugoslavia it was the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, and Serbia still calls it so; under the UN's administration of 1999–2008 it was the province of resolution 1244.
What is the capital of Kosovo?
Pristina — Prishtinë, Priština — in the northeast on the plain of Kosovo, the seat of the Ottoman vilayet and of the Yugoslav province, the capital of the republic since 2008; about 230,000 people by the census of 2024 and some 500,000 in its area, the youngest capital in Europe by the age of its people, with the National Library of the domes, the Newborn monument of 2008 and the boulevard named for Bill Clinton. Prizren, the Ottoman town under the Sharr, is the second city and the old capital of the League of 1878; Ferizaj, Peja, Gjakova and Gjilan follow, and Mitrovica, divided by the Ibar between its Albanian south and Serb north.
How big is Kosovo, and how many people live there?
About 10,887 km² (4,203 sq mi) — a little larger than Delaware, about the size of Lebanon — a landlocked basin in the Balkans ringed by mountains, between Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. The census of April 2024, the first since 2011 and boycotted by most of the Serbs of the north, counted about 1.59 million people, down from 1.74 million, the emigration to Germany and Switzerland taking the difference; the people are the youngest in Europe, with a median age of about 30, and about 93 percent are Albanians.
What are the highest and lowest points of Kosovo?
Gjeravica — Đeravica — 2,656 m (8,714 ft), in the Accursed Mountains, the Prokletije, on the border with Albania in the west, the highest point wholly within the country; and the White Drin at the Albanian border, 297 m (974 ft), the lowest. The Sharr Mountains along the North Macedonian border hold the ski resort of Brezovica and the national park; the Ibar and the Sitnica drain the plain of Kosovo to the Danube, the White Drin the Dukagjin plain to the Adriatic.
What currency does Kosovo use?
The euro (ISO code EUR, €), adopted on its own in 2002 as the Deutsche Mark's successor under the UN administration, without membership of the eurozone or the European Union — one of the countries that use it unilaterally, with Montenegro. The Serbian dinar, used in the Serb north, was barred from payments by the central bank in February 2024 to Belgrade's protest. Clocks keep Central European Time, UTC+1, with summer time; Kosovo drives on the right.
Who governs Kosovo?
Prime Minister Albin Kurti of Vetëvendosje, the Self-Determination Movement, head of government since 22 March 2021 and through three elections since — his party first in February 2025 without a majority, first with more than half the vote in the snap election of 28 December 2025, and first again with about 43 percent on 7 June 2026, after which the Assembly approved his new government on 13 September 2026 with 62 of the 120 votes. The presidency is empty: the Assembly, which elects the president by two-thirds, failed on 5 March and 28 April 2026 to choose a successor to Vjosa Osmani, whose term ended on 4 April, and the Speaker, Albulena Haxhiu, has been acting president since, for at most six months. A third failure would bring the fourth election in two years.
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