Basic data

Population
Serbia (without Kosovo and Metohija province) 7,498,001 (2002)
Niš 255,180 (2002)

Ethnic composition
(2002, without Kosovo and Metohija province): Serbs 82,86%, Hungarians 3,91%, Bosnians 1,82%, Roma 1,44%, others 9,97%. The official language is Serbian, with Cyrillic being the official script, but the Latin script is equally used.

Religion
Orthodox Christianity is the major religion. Serbian Orthodox Church became autonomous in 1219. Other important religious communities are Muslim, Catholic and Jewish.

Geography
Serbia covers an area of 88,361km2. It has land borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. The highest peak is Midžor (2169m) on Stara planina (Old Mountain). The Danube flows 588km through Serbia, the Sava River 206km, and the Drina River forms most of the border to the West (220km). Another important Serbian river is the Great Morava (185km), created by the confluence of the Western Morava (308km) and the Southern Morava (295km). Niš lies on the fast-flowing Nišava river.

Local time
Serbia is in the Central European Time Zone: GMT + 1 hours (in winter), GMT + 2 during daylight saving time. When it is noon in Niš it is: 11:00 in London, 06:00 in New York, 21:00 in Sydney and 14:00 in Moscow.