Country Profiles - Montenegro

MONTENEGRO

Geography: Montenegro, a jumbled mass of mountains, with a small coastline along the Adriatic, borders Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. It is roughly the size of Connecticut.

Government: Republic. Montenegro, formerly part of Serbia and Montenegro, gained independence on June 3, 2006.

History: The first inhabitants on the Balkan peninsula were the ancient people known as the Illyrians. The Slavic people followed in the 6th and 7th centuries. What is now Montenegro was the Serbian principality of Zeta in the 14th century. The principality was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire from the 14th to the 19th century, though this mountainous region managed to evade tight Ottoman control. It then became a principality within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in 1878 achieved independence. In 1910, Prince Nicholas I proclaimed himself king. During World War I, Montenegro fought on the side of the Allies and was defeated by Austro-German forces. Nicholas was forced to flee the country and Montenegro was annexed to Serbia, then called the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, and renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. After World War II, Yugoslavia became a Communist republic under Josip Tito. Tito's tight rein kept ethnic tensions in check until his death in 1980. Without his pan-Slavic influence, ethnic and nationalist differences began to flare, and by the 1990s Yugoslavia started to disintegrate in a brutal ten-year civil war. In the war's aftermath, Serbia and Montenegro were the only two remaining republics of Yugoslavia, and in Feb. 2003, they formed a new state, a loose federation called Serbia and Montenegro. The arrangement was made to placate Montenegro's restive stirrings for independence and stipulated that Montenegro could hold a referendum on independence after three years. In May 2003, Filip Vujanovic, a strong advocate of Montenegrin independence, was elected Montenegro's president.

Map of Montenegro

President: Filip Vujanovic (2008)

Prime Minister: Milo Djukanovic (2012)

Land area: 5,333 sq mi (13,812 sq km); total area: 5,415 sq mi (14,026 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 650,036 (growth rate: –0.49%); birth rate: 10.59/1000; death rate: 9.3/1000.

Capital (2011 est.): Podgorica, 156,000

Monetary unit: Euro

National name: Republike Crne Gore

Languages: Serbian 42.9%, Montenegrin (official) 37%, Bosnian 5.3%, Albanian 5.3%, Serbo-Croat 2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 4% (2011 est.)

Ethnicity/race: Montenegrin 45%, Serbian 28.7%, Bosniak 8.7%, Albanian 4.9%, Muslim 3.3%, Roma 1%, Croat 1%, other 2.6%, unspecified 4.9% (2011 est.)

Religions: Orthodox 72.1%, Muslim 19.1%, Catholic 3.4%, atheist 1.2%, other 1.5%, unspecified 2.6% (2011 est.)

National Holiday: National Day, July 13

Literacy rate: 98.5% (2011 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $7.429 billion; per capita $11,900. Real growth rate: 1.5%. Inflation: 4%. Unemployment: 19.1%. Arable land: 12.45%. Agriculture: tobacco, potatoes, citrus fruits, olives, grapes; sheep. Labor force: 251,300; agriculture 6.3%, industry 20.9%, services 72.8% (2011). Industries: steelmaking, agricultural processing, consumer goods, tourism. Natural resources: bauxite, hydroelectricity. Exports: $489.2 million (2012). Imports: $2.4 billion (2012). Major trading partners: Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, China (2012).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 163,000 (2012); mobile cellular: 1.126 million (2012). Broadcast media: state-funded national radio-TV broadcaster operates 2 terrestrial TV networks, 1 satellite TV channel, and 2 radio networks; 4 public TV stations and some 20 private TV stations; 14 local public radio stations and more than 40 private radio stations (2007). Internet hosts: 10,088 (2012). Internet users: 280,000 (2009).

Transportation: Railways: total: 250 km (2010). Highways: total: 7,763 km; paved: 5,365 km unpaved: 2,398 km (2010). Ports and terminals: Bar. Airports: 5 (2013).

International disputes: none.

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