Serbia, known as the Republic of Serbia in full, is a landlocked country located in southeastern Europe and the central Balkan Peninsula with an area of 88,361 square kilometers. Its capital is Belgrade. It borders with Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, and one fifth of Europe's second-largest river Danube flows through its territory.

In the past the Kingdom of Serbia was established by the Yugoslavs. After World War I it became the main part of Yugoslavia. In 1992 Serbia and Montenegro formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later renamed Serbia and Montenegro), and on June 3, 2006 the Republic of Montenegro became officially independent.

Serbia's economy has seen rapid growth in recent years (6.3 percent in 2006) and has been called "the Balkan Tiger" by some people. The economy is dominated by services, which accounted for 63 percent of its GNP in 2008. Football is the favourite team sports event of the Serbians.