Montenegro
Name
| Official name | Montenegro — Crna Gora (Црна Гора) |
|---|---|
| Former names | The Republic of Montenegro in Serbia and Montenegro (2003–06) and in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–2003); the Socialist Republic of Montenegro in Tito's Yugoslavia (1945–92); the Kingdom of Montenegro (1910–18) and the principality (1852–1910); Zeta of the Middle Ages and Duklja before it; the "Republic" in the name dropped by the Constitution of 2007 |
| Demonym | Montenegrin — Crnogorac |
| Meaning of the name | "Black Mountain" — Crna Gora, the Slavic name of the 1400s for the dark pine slopes of Lovćen above the coast, rendered by the Venetians as Montenegro; Duklja from the Roman Doclea, Zeta from the river |
| Motto | None official |
Quick facts
| Capital | Podgorica — the Ottoman town of the Morača, Titograd 1946–92, the capital of the republic; about 190,000 in the city, a third of the country in the municipality; Cetinje the Old Royal Capital and the seat of the presidency |
|---|---|
| Largest cities | Podgorica; Nikšić, about 57,000, the city of the brewery and the steel; Herceg Novi at the mouth of the bay; Bar of the port; Budva of the beaches; Bijelo Polje and Berane of the north; Cetinje, about 12,000; Kotor; Ulcinj of the Albanians; Pljevlja of the coal; Tivat of the marina |
| Official languages | Montenegrin — the official language by the Constitution of 2007, the local standard of the Serbo-Croatian of the South Slavs with two letters of its own; Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian in official use; the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets equal; the census the battleground of the names — Serbian the mother tongue of 43% and Montenegrin of 35% in 2023 |
| Currency | Euro — EUR, €; since 1 January 2002 without membership of the eurozone; the German mark of 1999–2002 before it; the eurozone at accession |
| Time zone | Central European Time, UTC+1; summer time UTC+2 |
| Calling code | +382 |
| Internet domain | .me — the "me" of the world's personal websites |
| ISO 3166 codes | ME · MNE · 499 |
| Vehicle registration code | MNE |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Independence | 3 June 2006, declared by the parliament after the referendum of 21 May 2006, 55.5% for on a turnout of 86%, the threshold of 55% set by the European Union; the United Nations 28 June 2006; the first independence recognized at the Congress of Berlin on 13 July 1878, the Statehood Day |
| National days | 21 May, Independence Day; 13 July, Statehood Day, for the recognition of 1878 and the uprising of 1941; 1 May; 1 January; the Orthodox Christmas of 7 January and Easter; the Catholic Christmas; the Eids; Njegoš Day of 13 November; the Kurban and the feasts of the minorities by the law |
| Constitution | 22 October 2007 — the Constitution of Montenegro, adopted by the parliament on 19 October 2007 by 55 of 81, a year after independence: a parliamentary republic with a president elected by the people for five years, the Parliament of 81, the government responsible to it, the Constitutional Court, the civic state of "free and equal citizens" without a titular nation, the ecological state of the declaration of 1991, Montenegrin the official language; the Constitution of 1992 of the Yugoslav republic before |
| Population | 623,633 at the census of December 2023; about 620,000 (2026 est.), falling by about 0.5% a year; 620,029 in 2011 |
| Area | 13,812 km² (5,333 sq mi) — land 13,452 km², water 360 km² |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A red field bordered in gold with the coat of arms at its center — the golden double-headed eagle of the Byzantine and the Petrović-Njegoš tradition under a crown, holding a scepter and an orb, with a blue shield on its breast bearing the golden lion of Judah, the emblem of the church of the prince-bishops; the flag of King Nikola's kingdom of 1910 remade by the law of 12 July 2004 in the run-up to the referendum, in place of the Yugoslav tricolor, the ratio one to two.Flag of Montenegro |
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| Coat of arms | The golden double-headed eagle crowned, with the scepter and the orb in its talons and the blue shield of the lion passant on green on its breast — the arms of the Crnojević and the Petrović-Njegoš dynasties, the eagle of the East Roman heritage and the lion of the bishops' authority; adopted 12 July 2004 by the law on the state symbols |
| National anthem | "Oj, svijetla majska zoro" ("Oh, Bright Dawn of May") — a folk song of the 1800s, "Oh, bright dawn of May, our mother Montenegro," adopted 12 July 2004 with the verses credited to Sekula Drljević, the wartime separatist of the 1940s, the quarrel of the Serb parties that refuse to sing it; "Onamo, 'namo!" of King Nikola the anthem of the kingdom |
| National motto | None official |
| National colors | Red and gold |
| National animal | The eagle of the arms; the lynx of the Prokletije; the wolf and the bear of the Durmitor; widely cited |
| National tree | The black pine of Crna Gora's name, the forests of Lovćen; the olive of the coast, the Old Olive of Mirovica at Bar, 2,000 years old, among the oldest trees in Europe; widely cited |
| National dish | Njeguški pršut, the smoked ham of the village of Njeguši under Lovćen, with the Njeguši cheese; kačamak, the polenta of potatoes and cheese of the north; cicvara; the lamb under the sač; the buzara of the coast's mussels; the Vranac wine of the Plantaže vineyards, the largest single vineyard in Europe; the rakija; widely cited |
| National sport | Water polo — the "Sharks" of the European title of 2008 and the world finals, the Olympic fourth places; the handball of the women of the European title and the Olympic silver of 2012, the country's only Olympic medal; basketball of Nikola Vučević and the Podgorica Budućnost; football of the "Brave Falcons"; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, the arms and the anthem are fixed by the law on the state symbols of 12 July 2004 and the Constitution of 2007; the animals, trees, dishes and sports widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Southeastern Europe on the Adriatic — Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo to the east, Albania to the southeast; the Dinaric Alps falling to the sea; the Strait of Otranto 200 km south |
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| Land borders | 680 km (423 mi) with five neighbors — Bosnia and Herzegovina 242, Albania 186, Serbia 157, Kosovo 76, Croatia 19; the Prevlaka peninsula's quarrel with Croatia settled by the temporary regime of 2002; the Kosovo border demarcated 2015; the Debeli Brijeg crossing to Dubrovnik |
| Coastline | 294 km (183 mi) — the Bay of Kotor, the Boka Kotorska, 28 km deep inside the mountains with Kotor, Perast and Herceg Novi on its shores; the beaches of Budva and Bečići, the island of Sveti Stefan, the Ulcinj long beach of 13 km; the Ada Bojana at the Albanian line; 117 beaches in all |
| Highest point | Zla Kolata, 2,534 m (8,314 ft), in the Prokletije on the Albanian border; Bobotov Kuk of the Durmitor, 2,523 m, the highest wholly within |
| Lowest point | The Adriatic Sea, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 1,086 m (3,563 ft) — a country of mountains |
| Rivers | The Tara, 146 km, the "tear of Europe," whose canyon of 78 km and 1,300 m is the deepest in Europe, joining the Piva at Šćepan Polje to make the Drina; the Piva; the Lim to the Drina; the Morača through Podgorica and the Zeta to Lake Skadar; the Bojana from the lake to the sea, shared with Albania; the Cijevna of the canyon; the Ibar's source in the Rožaje hills |
| Lakes | Lake Skadar — Skadarsko jezero — 370 to 530 km² with the season, the largest lake of the Balkans, two-thirds Montenegrin, the pelicans and the 280 birds of the national park; the Black Lake of the Durmitor and its 17 glacial lakes, the "mountain eyes"; the Piva reservoir of 1975 that drowned the monastery moved stone by stone; Biogradsko; Plav; the Slano and Krupac of Nikšić |
| Terrain | The Dinaric Alps over nearly all — the Durmitor of 48 peaks above 2,000 m, the Prokletije, the Bjelasica, the Komovi, the Sinjajevina plateau; the karst of the Old Montenegro around Cetinje; the Zeta plain of Podgorica and the lake; the narrow coast under the Orjen and Lovćen; the canyons of the Tara, Morača, Piva and Cijevna |
| Climate | Mediterranean on the coast with 240 days of sun at Budva; continental in the north with the snow of the Durmitor to June; the rain of the Orjen — Crkvice above the Bay of Kotor at about 4,600 mm a year, the wettest inhabited place in Europe; Žabljak at 1,456 m the highest town of the Balkans and its ski resort; the bora of the winter |
| Natural hazards | Earthquakes — the Montenegro coast quake of 15 April 1979, magnitude 7.0, 136 dead, Kotor and Budva wrecked; the wildfires of every summer, the fires of 2017, 2024 and September 2026 at Nikšić; the floods of the Skadar plain; the landslides of the canyons; the mass shootings of Cetinje of 12 August 2022 with 11 dead and 1 January 2025 with 12 dead, the gun law and the three days of mourning |
| Natural resources | Bauxite of Nikšić; coal of Pljevlja; the hydropower of the Piva and the Zeta; the timber of the north; the salt of Ulcinj; the coast and the mountains the resource of the tourists; the sea |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 38%, most of it pasture; forest about 61%, among the most wooded in Europe |
| National parks | 5 — Durmitor of 1952, the World Heritage site of the Tara canyon and the Black Lake; Lovćen of 1952, the black mountain of Njegoš's mausoleum at 1,657 m; Biogradska Gora of 1952, one of the last three primeval forests of Europe with the lake; Skadar Lake of 1983; Prokletije of 2009; the parks a tenth of the land; the regional parks of Piva, Komovi and Orjen |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 4 — the Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor (1979), the walled town and the bay; Durmitor National Park (1980); the Stećci medieval tombstone graveyards (2016, shared with Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia); the Venetian Works of Defence of the 16th and 17th centuries (2017, shared with Italy and Croatia), the fortifications of Kotor; the Boka Navy of Kotor, the 1,200-year brotherhood of the seamen, on the intangible list (2021) |
| Administrative divisions | 25 municipalities — opštine — from Andrijevica to Žabljak, with Podgorica the Capital City and Cetinje the Old Royal Capital, Tuzi of 2018 and Zeta of 2022 the newest; the municipal assemblies and mayors; every local election to be held on one day with the parliamentary in June 2027 |
People
| Population | 623,633 (census of 2023); about 620,000 (2026 est.) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 45 per km² (117 per sq mi) — the north emptying, the coast and Podgorica growing |
| Population growth | Negative — about −0.5% a year, the births below the deaths since 2020 and the young to Germany and the coast; the Russians and Ukrainians of 2022 the newcomers |
| Median age | About 40 years |
| Life expectancy | About 77 years — 74 for men, 80 for women |
| Fertility rate | About 1.7 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 68% |
| Adult literacy | About 99% |
| Ethnic groups | Montenegrins 41.12%; Serbs 32.93%; Bosniaks 9.45%, of the Sandžak towns of the northeast; Albanians 4.97%, of Ulcinj, Tuzi and Plav; Russians 2.06%, the newcomers of the war years; Muslims 1.63%, by nationality; Croats of the bay, Roma, Egyptians; 2.88% declining to say (census of 2023) — the count the country's great quarrel, the same Slavic people divided by the name, the Montenegrin share 45% in 2011 and the Serb 29%, each side reading the figures its way |
| Languages | Serbian the mother tongue of 43.2% and Montenegrin of 34.5%, the one language of two names, with Bosnian 7%, Albanian 5.3%, Russian 1.9% (census of 2023); the two alphabets; English by the young and the tourists' trade; Italian on the coast |
| Religion | Orthodox about 71% — the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, the owner of the monasteries of Cetinje and Ostrog, the law on religion of December 2019 that threatened its property and brought the litanies of 2020 that felled the government, the fundamental agreement with the state of 3 August 2022, and the unrecognized Montenegrin Orthodox Church of the independentists; Muslim about 20%, the Bosniaks and Albanians; Roman Catholic about 3%, the Croats and the Albanians of the coast; none about 1% (census of 2023) |
| Human Development Index | 0.862 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; about 47th of 193 |
| The identity question | One people or two — the Montenegrins of the independence and their own church and language, the Serbs of Montenegro of the Serbian church and the union, the Bosniaks and Albanians who tipped the referendum of 2006; the flag of 2004 and the anthem the Serb parties will not sing, the enthronement of the metropolitan at Cetinje in September 2021 behind the police lines and the tear gas, the census of 2023 delayed and disputed; the government of 2023 the first to seat the Serb nationalists in the Speaker's chair beside the pro-European reformers, "a beacon for the entire Balkans," Spajić said, "dictated by Moscow and Belgrade," the opposition said |
| Sport | Water polo, the national pride — the European champions of 2008, the world silver of 2013 and the Olympic fourth places of 2008, 2012 and 2016, the Sharks; the women's handball team of the European gold of 2012 and the Olympic silver of London the same year, the only Olympic medal; basketball's Vučević and Dubljević, Budućnost in the EuroLeague; football's Mirko Vučinić and Stevan Jovetić; the tallest people in Europe by the studies, the men at 183 cm; the Podgorica marathon; the Durmitor skiing |
| Diaspora | More Montenegrins abroad than at home by the old claim — Serbia, Turkey, the United States, Luxembourg of the Bosniak emigrants of the 1970s, Germany, Switzerland, Argentina; the remittances about 5% of GDP; the Russians and Ukrainians of 2022 who bought the coast |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary parliamentary republic under the Constitution of 2007 — the president elected by the people for five years and twice at most as head of state, the commander of the army, the promulgator of the laws; the prime minister and the government elected by the Parliament of 81; the Constitutional Court; the civic state; the NATO member of 2017 and the EU candidate of 2010 |
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| President | Jakov Milatović (independent), since 20 May 2023 — the third president of the independent state after Filip Vujanović and Milo Đukanović; born 7 December 1986 at Podgorica, an economist of Oxford, Vienna and the EBRD, the minister of economic development of 2020–22 who wrote the "Europe Now" program with Spajić, the co-founder of the movement; elected 2 April 2023 in the runoff with 58.9% over Đukanović, the president and prime minister of thirty years, the youngest head of state in Europe; left Europe Now! in February 2024 in the feud with Spajić and made his own list, "the most primitive political trading," his words for the government of 2024; the critic of the Turkish visa suspension of 2025; his term to May 2028 |
| Prime Minister | Milojko Spajić (Europe Now! — Pokret Evropa Sad, PES), since 31 October 2023 — the head of the 44th government, elected by 46 votes of 81 after four months of bargaining; born 24 September 1987 at Mojkovac, the investment banker of Tokyo and Singapore, the finance minister of 2020–22 of the "Europe Now" wage and pension raises, the movement's founder and leader; the government of the reformers of PES, the Democrats of Aleksa Bečić and the Socialist People's Party, enlarged on 23 July 2024 to seven deputy prime ministers and 25 ministries with the Serb list For the Future of Montenegro and the Bosniak Party inside it; "the most decisive year in Montenegro's path," his 2026; the Singapore residence of his past the opposition's theme |
| The Speaker | Andrija Mandić (New Serbian Democracy, of the For the Future of Montenegro list), the Speaker since 30 October 2023 — the leader of the old Democratic Front, the Serb nationalist who opposed independence and NATO, of the "coup plot" trial of 2016 that ended in his acquittal at the retrial, the friend of Belgrade and Moscow in his critics' account and the guarantor of "reconciliation" in the government's; the initiative of 33 deputies to dismiss him in September 2026 that Spajić's Europe Now! refused to back, "has PES dimmed the hopes," the press asked |
| The 2023 election | Held 11 June 2023 for the 81 seats: Europe Now! 25.5% and 24 seats in its first election; the Democratic Party of Socialists of Đukanović's successors in the "Together!" coalition 23.2% and 21, the party of thirty years in opposition since 2020; For the Future of Montenegro of the Serb parties 14.7% and 13; "Aleksa and Ana" of the Democrats and URA 12.5% and 11; the Bosniak Party 7.1% and 6; the Albanian lists 3; the SNP-Demos 2; the Croatian Civic Initiative 1; turnout 56.4%, the lowest since independence; Spajić's government of 31 October |
| Parliament | The Parliament of Montenegro — Skupština Crne Gore — 81 deputies elected for four years on national lists by proportional representation with a 3% threshold, lowered to 0.7% for the minority lists; Andrija Mandić the Speaker; the DPS of Danijel Živković the largest opposition; the quorum fights of 2026 |
| The next election | The parliamentary election and all 25 local elections on one day in June 2027, by the law of July 2025; the presidential election in the spring of 2028 |
| The EU talks | The most advanced candidate — the application of 15 December 2008, the candidate status of 17 December 2010, the negotiations opened 29 June 2012, all 33 chapters opened by 2020; the interim benchmarks of the rule-of-law chapters 23 and 24 met by the assessment of 26 June 2024, the key that unlocked the closing; three chapters closed in the eight years to 2024, six in 2025, and six more in 2026 — chapter 32 on financial control on 26 January, two at Luxembourg on 15 June, chapters 8 and 29 on competition and the customs union on 14 July 2026 — 18 OF 33 PROVISIONALLY CLOSED, "more than half," Commissioner Kos said; the government's aim of all 33 by the end of 2026, the treaty drafted in parallel, the negotiations formally concluded at the start of 2027 and membership as the 28th member state in 2028, "somewhere in 2028," Spajić says, the budget already planned for it; "only in formal terms and if the EU chooses to prioritise geopolitical considerations over the merit-based approach," the Centre for Civic Education's Kovač answered, the judiciary the "core weakness"; the Growth Plan money; the euro by right on the day |
| NATO and the powers | A member of NATO since 5 June 2017, the 29th, after the parliament's vote and no referendum, Russia's anger and the "coup plot" of the election night of 16 October 2016 for which two Russian military intelligence officers were convicted in absentia in 2019, the verdicts overturned and the retrial; the sanctions against Russia joined in 2014 and 2022, Montenegro on Moscow's list of the "unfriendly"; the Serbian church and the Serbian state across the border, the vote for the Srebrenica resolution of 2024 the quarrel; the Chinese loan of the highway; the United States of the alliance, Turkey of the trade and the visa affair, the European Union of the destiny |
| The Turkish affair | The stabbing of a 25-year-old of Podgorica on the night of 25 October 2025 after a quarrel with Turkish nationals, the crowds of the next day in the Zabjelo quarter smashing cars with Turkish plates, the Turks barricaded in a casino, a Turkish restaurant burned; the government's suspension of visa-free entry for Turks announced by Spajić that night and decreed on 27 October, 45 Turks and Azerbaijanis detained for their papers and eight deported; "a more responsible migration policy," the president said, and then his rebuke of the government for failing to weigh "the possible counter-reaction of Turkey"; Ankara's "closely monitoring," the court's finding that the two detained Turks had no part in the attack; the visa-free travel restored on 23 December 2025 with the stay cut to 30 days, and the visa requirement made permanent from 1 November 2026 as an alignment with the EU's policy, the government said; the 13,000 Turks of the shops and the building sites of the capital |
| Legal system | Civil law of the Yugoslav and Austrian traditions rewritten for the EU acquis; the Constitutional Court of seven; the Supreme Court; the Special Prosecution for organized crime and the Sky ECC trials of the Kavač and Škaljari clans of Kotor, the drug war of the Balkans; the death penalty abolished 2002; the prosecutor and the judicial council the chapters' test; the gun law after Cetinje |
| Local government | 25 municipalities with elected assemblies and mayors — Saša Mujović the mayor of Podgorica since the snap election of 29 September 2024 born of the Milatović–Spajić split, the DPS the largest list; Cetinje of the Old Royal Capital; the northern municipalities of the Bosniaks and the coastal ones of the money; all to vote in June 2027 |
| Defense | The Armed Forces of Montenegro of about 2,000 — the army, the navy of the bay and the air force of the helicopters; conscription ended 2006; the NATO air policing by the allies; the spending toward 2% of GDP; the peacekeepers of Afghanistan and Mali; the Golubovci base |
| United Nations | Member since 28 June 2006, the 192nd; the Council of Europe since 11 May 2007; the OSCE; the votes with the European Union |
| Other memberships | NATO (2017); the Council of Europe (2007); the WTO (2012); the Central European Free Trade Agreement; the Regional Cooperation Council of the Balkans; the Adriatic Charter; the Union for the Mediterranean; the Berlin Process; the Open Balkan declined |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$8.7 billion (2025, IMF) |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$14,000 (2025) — the highest of the Western Balkans |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$34,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 3% in 2024 and 3.5% in 2025 on the tourists and the building; inflation about 3% from 17% in 2022; unemployment about 11%; the "Europe Now" program that doubled the minimum wage to €450 in 2022 and raised it again to €600 in 2024, the pensions floor, the seven-hour working day of 2025 |
| Economy by sector | Services about 75% — tourism about a quarter of GDP directly; industry about 18%; agriculture about 7% |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Tourism | About 2.6 million visitors a year, four times the population, the record of 2024 — Budva, Kotor, Herceg Novi and Tivat, the cruise ships in the bay, the Durmitor rafting of the Tara; Serbs, Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Turks and the Chinese; Porto Montenegro, the superyacht marina of Tivat built on the old naval yard; Sveti Stefan, the fishing village turned hotel of the stars, shut since 2021 in the dispute with its operator; the "golden passports" of 2019–22 for the investors |
| Industry | The KAP aluminum smelter of Podgorica of 1971, once half the exports, bankrupt in 2013 and bought by Uniprom, the electricity price its life; the Nikšić steelworks and bauxite, the Trebjesa brewery of 1896; the Pljevlja coal mine and its power plant of 1982, the country's largest polluter, refurbished for the last years of the coal; the Bar port; the shipyard of Bijela closed for the marina |
| Energy | Hydropower of the Piva and Perućica plants for half the electricity, coal of Pljevlja for the rest, the solar of the Krnovo wind and the sun of Ulcinj; the undersea cable to Italy of 2019, 445 km and 1,000 MW, that made the country an electricity trader; the Gvozd wind farm of 2025; the EU's coal-exit demand and the Pljevlja plant's reprieve |
| Agriculture and the land | The Plantaže vineyard of Ćemovsko polje outside Podgorica, 2,300 hectares in one piece, the largest single vineyard in Europe, the Vranac and Krstač wines; the olives of Bar and the Old Olive; the Njeguši ham and cheese; the sheep and the cheese of the north; the Skadar carp and eel; the mandarins of Ulcinj |
| Public finances | Public debt about 60% of GDP, from 90% in the pandemic — the Chinese Exim Bank loan of €944 million of 2014 for the highway that nearly sank the treasury, hedged into euros in 2021; the deficit about 3%; the EU's Growth Plan of €383 million for 2024–27; the budget of 2026 written with the membership of 2028 in view; the pensions of "Europe Now" the cost |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank); the richest of the six Western Balkan states by the head |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Podgorica Airport at Golubovci, about 1.5 million passengers, and Tivat Airport on the bay, about 1.4 million and the busier in summer; the concession of the two to a foreign operator the plan of 2024–26 and the "urgent reconstruction" the government announced in September 2026; Dubrovnik across the border the tourists' third |
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| Airline | Air Montenegro, the state carrier founded in 2021 after Montenegro Airlines of 1994 collapsed in December 2020 with its debts; Ryanair, Wizz Air, Turkish and Air Serbia the links; the Moscow flights of the sanctions' gap |
| Main port | Bar — the Port of Bar of the containers and the Port of Adria of the general cargo, the terminus of the railway to Belgrade, the Bari ferry; Kotor of the cruise ships, half a million passengers a year; the marinas of Tivat and Budva; Zelenika |
| Railways | About 250 km (155 mi) of standard gauge, electrified — the Belgrade–Bar railway of 1976, 167 km in the country through 254 tunnels and 435 bridges, the Mala Rijeka viaduct of 198 m the highest railway bridge in the world when it opened, the Sozina tunnel of 6 km; the Podgorica–Nikšić line electrified 2012; the Podgorica–Tuzi–Shkodër line to Albania, freight only |
| Roads | About 7,800 km (4,850 mi); the Bar–Boljare motorway, the first 41 km from Smokovac to Mateševo opened 13 July 2022 for €944 million of the Chinese loan, the most expensive road in Europe by the kilometer with its Moračica bridge, the next section to Andrijevica financed by the European banks; the Sozina road tunnel of 2005 that put the coast an hour from the capital; the coastal road of the summer jams; the Kotor–Lovćen serpentines of 25 hairpins |
| The bay | The Kamenari–Lepetane ferry across the Verige strait, the bridge planned for decades; the boats to Perast's Our Lady of the Rocks; the cable car from Kotor to Lovćen of 2023, 3.9 km; the cruise pier of Kotor |
History in dates
| c. 600 | The Slavs settle Doclea — Duklja |
|---|---|
| 1042 | Stefan Vojislav beats the Byzantines at Bar — the independent state |
| 1077 | Mihailo of Duklja a king by the Pope's letter |
| 1186 | Zeta under the Nemanjić of Serbia |
| 1356 | The Balšić lords of Zeta |
| 1482 | Ivan Crnojević at Cetinje — the monastery, 1484 |
| 1494 | The Oktoih of Cetinje — the first book printed in Cyrillic among the South Slavs |
| 1496 | The Ottomans take Zeta; the mountain holds |
| 1697 | Danilo I the prince-bishop — the Petrović-Njegoš, to 1918 |
| 1796 | Krusi, 3 October — Petar I beats the pasha of Shkodër |
| 1847 | Njegoš's "Mountain Wreath" |
| 1852 | The principality — Danilo I the secular prince |
| 1878 | Independence recognized at Berlin, 13 July |
| 1905 | The first constitution |
| 1910 | The kingdom, 28 August — Nikola I |
| 1916 | The Austrian occupation, January |
| 1918 | The Podgorica Assembly, 26 November — union with Serbia; the Christmas Uprising, 1919 |
| 1941 | The uprising of 13 July against Italy |
| 1945 | The People's Republic in Tito's Yugoslavia; Titograd, 1946 |
| 1979 | The earthquake, 15 April — 136 dead |
| 1989 | The anti-bureaucratic revolution, January — Đukanović's rise |
| 1991 | The ecological state declared, 20 September; the siege of Dubrovnik |
| 1992 | The referendum for Yugoslavia, 1 March; the Federal Republic, 27 April |
| 1997 | Đukanović president — the break with Milošević |
| 1999 | The German mark, 2 November |
| 2002 | The euro, 1 January |
| 2003 | Serbia and Montenegro, 4 February |
| 2006 | The referendum, 21 May — 55.5%; independence, 3 June; the UN, 28 June |
| 2007 | The Constitution, 22 October |
| 2010 | EU candidate, 17 December |
| 2012 | The negotiations opened, 29 June |
| 2016 | The "coup plot" of election night, 16 October |
| 2017 | NATO, 5 June |
| 2019 | The religion law, 27 December — the litanies |
| 2020 | The DPS loses, 30 August — after thirty years |
| 2021 | The Cetinje enthronement, 5 September |
| 2022 | The church agreement, 3 August; the Cetinje shooting, 12 August; the highway opens, 13 July |
| 2023 | Milatović elected, 2 April; the election, 11 June; Spajić, 31 October; the census, December |
| 2024 | The benchmarks met, 26 June; the government enlarged, 23 July; the Podgorica vote, 29 September |
| 2025 | The Cetinje shooting, 1 January; six chapters closed; the Turkish riots, 25–26 October; the visa restored, 23 December |
| 2026 | Chapter 32, 26 January; two chapters, 15 June; two more, 14 July — 18 of 33; the visa decision, 28 July; the Mandić initiative, September |
Records & firsts
| The deepest canyon in Europe | The Tara, 1,300 m |
|---|---|
| The wettest inhabited place in Europe | Crkvice, about 4,600 mm |
| The largest lake of the Balkans | Skadar |
| One of the last primeval forests of Europe | Biogradska Gora |
| The largest single vineyard in Europe | Plantaže, 2,300 hectares |
| The euro without the eurozone | Since 2002 |
| The first ecological state | Declared 20 September 1991 |
| The first Cyrillic book of the South Slavs | The Oktoih, 1494 |
| The highest railway bridge of its day | Mala Rijeka, 198 m, 1976 |
| The tallest people in Europe, by the studies | Men at 183 cm |
| The most advanced EU candidate | 18 of 33 chapters closed |
| The youngest head of state in Europe | Milatović at 36, 2023 |
| A referendum won at 55.5% | 21 May 2006 |
| The Black Mountain | Lovćen, 1,749 m |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Montenegro?
Montenegro — Crna Gora, the "Black Mountain," in Montenegrin and Serbian — the republic that restored its independence on 3 June 2006 after the referendum of 21 May 2006 ended the state union with Serbia by 55.5 percent, the last of the Yugoslav republics to go its own way and the youngest state of Europe but for Kosovo; independent before as a principality and kingdom from 1878 to 1918. The name is Venetian, monte negro, for the dark pine forests of Mount Lovćen seen from the sea, the Italian form of the Slavic Crna Gora that the medieval land of Zeta took in the 1400s; the Montenegrins call themselves Crnogorci.
What is the capital of Montenegro?
Podgorica — "under the little hill," the Ottoman town on the Morača that was called Titograd from 1946 to 1992, rebuilt after the bombing of 1944 destroyed it — about 190,000 people in the city and a third of the country in the municipality, the plain of the Zeta with the Millennium Bridge and the new cathedral. Cetinje, the mountain village where the prince-bishops and King Nikola ruled from the monastery and the palace, is the Old Royal Capital by the Constitution and the seat of the president; Nikšić of the brewery and the steelworks is the second city, Bar the port, Budva and Kotor the towns of the coast.
How big is Montenegro, and how many people live there?
About 13,812 km² (5,333 sq mi) — the size of Connecticut, a little smaller than Manipur — on the Adriatic between Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania, a country of mountains that falls from the Durmitor to a coast of 294 km. The census of 2023, its first since 2011, counted 623,633 people, 41 percent of them declaring themselves Montenegrins and 33 percent Serbs, with Bosniaks, Albanians, Muslims and Russians the rest; about 620,000 live there in 2026 as the births fall and the young leave, more Montenegrins than that living abroad.
What are the highest and lowest points of Montenegro?
Zla Kolata, 2,534 m (8,314 ft), on the Albanian border in the Prokletije, the "accursed mountains" of the southeast, a few meters above Bobotov Kuk, 2,523 m, the peak of the Durmitor that the country long counted as its highest; and the Adriatic. The Tara river cuts the deepest canyon in Europe, 1,300 m, through the north; Lake Skadar on the Albanian border is the largest lake of the Balkans; the Bay of Kotor, the fjord-like inlet of the coast, holds the walled town of Kotor under the fortress of San Giovanni; and Crkvice above the bay is the wettest inhabited place in Europe.
What currency does Montenegro use?
The euro (ISO code EUR, €), used since 1 January 2002 without membership of the eurozone or of the European Union — Montenegro adopted the German mark in 1999 as it pulled away from Milošević's Serbia and switched to the euro with Germany, striking no coins of its own and living with the European Central Bank's tolerance; the euro will become its currency by right at accession. Clocks keep Central European Time, UTC+1, with summer time; Montenegro drives on the right.
Who governs Montenegro?
President Jakov Milatović, the head of state since 20 May 2023, the economist of 36 who ended Milo Đukanović's three decades at the top by winning the runoff of April 2023 with 59 percent; and Prime Minister Milojko Spajić of the Europe Now! movement, head of government since 31 October 2023, the two men the founders of the same movement and now its rivals since Milatović left it in 2024. Spajić's coalition of pro-European reformers, Serb nationalists under Speaker Andrija Mandić and the Bosniak and Albanian parties runs the most advanced accession bid in the European Union — 18 of the 33 negotiating chapters were provisionally closed by July 2026, the government's aim being to close them all by the end of 2026 and to join as the 28th member state in 2028. The parliamentary election and every local one are set for a single day in June 2027.
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