Kosovo

Kosovo and Metohia (Serbian: ?????? ? ???????? / Kosovo i Metohija, Albanian: Kosovë / Kosova), in English most often called just Kosovo, is a province of Serbia. It is the subject of an ongoing territorial dispute between the Serbian government and the province's majority ethnic Albanian population. It is a part of Serbia, but since the Kosovo War it has been administered by the United Nations as a protectorate. Its Albanian population referred to the province as the Republic of Kosovo between 1990 and 1999 and declared it an independent state, though this was recognized abroad only by Albania. The province's final status has yet to be determined; talks on this issue are scheduled for later in 2006.

Demographics

Main article: Demographic history of Kosovo

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Albanians now comprise an almost 90% majority of the population of the province. Their percentage as a proportion of the province's population has increased steadily over time as a result of a high birth rate, Albanian immigration and non-Albanian emigration. Most of the province's population became refugees during the war but most of the Albanian refugees quickly returned to their homes at its end. In the aftermath of the conflict, several hundred thousand non-Albanians, especially Serbs and Romas, fled the province to escape renewed intercommunal violence. The non-Albanian population of Kosovo has continued to fall in recent years due to a combination of economic hardship and ethnic tension.

Related Topics:
Albanians - Serbs - Romas

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to the 2000 Living Standard Measurement Survey of the Statistical Office of Kosovohttp://www.sok-kosovo.org/pdf/population/Kosovo_population.pdf, Kosovo's total population is approximately 1,970,000 with the following ethnic proportions:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• 88% Albanians (1,733,600)
• 7% Serbs (137,900)
• 1.9% Muslim Slavs (37,400)
• 1.7% Roma (33,500)
• 1% Turks (19,700)

Intercommunal violence has further reduced the number of non-Albanians in Kosovo since this survey, and many of those who do remain now live in refugee camps or in heavily guarded villages.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~