Serbia

About the region

Flag of Serbia Serbia covers an area of 88 361 km², (roughly 77,000 km²excluding Kosovo) and has a population of 10,159,046, or approximately 7.5 million excluding Kosovo. In the most recent world economic outlook (April 2008), the IMF has included data for Serbia (without Kosovo), such that GDP per capita in terms of PPP has been recorded at $10 911, and $7 054 in real exchange rate terms.

Since the formation of the pro-European government in 2008, Serbia has seen an increasingly swift foreign direct investment trend, starting with significant investments from FIAT into Serbia's Zastava car manufacturer (in which the deal is worth US$2.2 Billion). Besides that, Serbia has been traditionally known for its well qualified human resources. Serbia boasts approximately 200 scientific research and development organisations, of which roughly 75 are in RDI, 35 in RDU and 90 are faculties of HEO. About 2/3 are active in basic sciences, and 1/3 in applied ones. There are six public Universities in Serbia., including the University of Belgrade, the biggest and the most renowned in the country.