Yugoslavia

federal republic in formIndependence 1 December 1918

Yugoslavia as the 1991 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 71 fields, the last of 2 editions from 1990 to 1991.

field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe open editionEach field below ends in its editions, 1990 to 2025. Point at a year above to follow it down.

CapitalBelgrade
Area255,800 km2
1991

Every edition of Yugoslavia

Populationas each edition published it
23.98 million July 1991 · 23.84m in 1990
Fertility ratechildren per woman
1.9 children per woman 1991 · 1.9 in 1990
Infant mortalitydeaths per 1,000 live births
21 deaths per 1,000 live births 1991 · 22 in 1990

Corrected. Source files these entries under Serbia and Montenegro. The 1990 and 1991 entries describe the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia before its break-up. All corrections

Geography

11 fields
Total area
255,800km2
land area: 255,400 km2Comparative area: slightly larger than Wyoming
Coastline
3,935km
(including 2,414 km offshore islands) Continental shelf: 200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation; Territorial sea: 12 nm
Land boundaries
2,961km total
Albania 486 km, Austria 311 km, Bulgaria 539 km, Greece 246 km, Hungary 631 km, Italy 202 km, Romania 546 km

Disputes

Kosovo question with Albania; Macedonia question with Bulgaria and Greece

Climate

  • temperate;
  • hot, relatively dry summers with mild, rainy winters along coast;
  • warm summer with cold winters inland

Terrain

mostly mountains with large areas of karst topography; plain in north

Natural resources

coal, copper, bauxite, timber, iron ore, antimony, chromium, lead, zinc, asbestos, mercury, crude oil, natural gas, nickel, uranium

Land use

  • arable land 28%;
  • permanent crops 3%;
  • meadows and pastures 25%;
  • forest and woodland 36%;
  • other 8%;
  • includes irrigated 1%

Environment

subject to frequent and destructive earthquakes

Note

controls the most important land routes from central and western Europe to Aegean Sea and Turkish straits

People

14 fields
Population
23,976,040
(July 1991), growth rate 0.6% (1991)

Per 1,000 population(1991)

Birth
14Death
9Net migration
0

Ethnic divisions(1981 census)

Serb 36.3%Croat 19.7%Muslim 8.9%Slovene 7.8%Albanian 7.7%Macedonian 5.9%Yugoslav 5.4%Montenegrin 2.5%Hungarian 1.9%other 3.9% (1981 census)

Religion

Eastern Orthodox 50%Roman Catholic 30%Muslim 9%Protestant 1%other 10%
Literacy
90%
(male 96%, female 84%) age 15 and over can read and write (1981)

Infant mortality rate

21 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

Life expectancy at birth

70 years male, 76 years female (1991)

Total fertility rate

1.9 children born/woman (1991)

Nationality

noun--Yugoslav(s); adjective--Yugoslav

Language

Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, Macedonian (all official); Albanian, Hungarian

Labor force

  • 9,600,000;
  • agriculture 22%, mining and manufacturing 27%;
  • about 5% of labor force are guest workers in Western Europe (1986)

Organized labor

badly fractured labor movement, with no unified national labor federation; several republics have competing union federations within their borders

Government

Federal republic in form

18 fields

Long-form name

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; abbreviated SFRY

Type

federal republic in form; four of six republics have non-Communist governments

Capital

Belgrade

Administrative divisions

  • 6 republics (republike, singular--republika);
  • Bosna i Hercegovina (Bosnia and Hercegovina), Crna Gora (Montenegro), Hrvatska (Croatia), Makedonija (Macedonia), Slovenija (Slovenia), Srbija (Serbia);
  • note--there are two nominally autonomous provinces (autonomne pokajine, singular--autonomna pokajina) within Srbija--Kosovo and Vojvodina

Independence

  • 1 December 1918;
  • independent monarchy established from the Kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro, parts of the Turkish Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire;
  • SFRY proclaimed 29 November 1945

Constitution

21 February 1974, amendments to the Constitution have passed the Federal Assembly and are being considered at the republic level

National holiday

Proclamation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 29 November (1945)

Executive branch

president of the Presidency, vice president of the Presidency, Presidency, president of the Federal Executive Council, two vice presidents of the Federal Executive Council, Federal Executive Council

Legislative branch

bicameral Federal (Skupstina) consists of an upper chamber or Chamber of Republics and Provinces (Vece Republika i Pokrajina) and a lower chamber or Federal Chamber

Judicial branch

  • Federal Court (Savezna Sud), Constitutional Court Chief of State--President of the Presidency Stjepan MESIC from Hrvatska (Croatia), one-year term expires 15 May 1992;
  • Vice President of the Presidency Branko KOSTIC from Crna Gora (Montenegro), one-year term expires 15 May 1992;
  • note--the offices of president and vice president rotate annually among members of the Presidency with the current vice president assuming the presidency and a new vice president selected from area which has gone the longest without filling the position (the current sequence is Hrvatska, Crna Gora, Vojvodina, Kosovo, Makedonija, Bosna i Hercegovina, Slovenija, and Srbija);
  • Head of Government--President of the Federal Executive Council Ante MARKOVIC (since 16 March 1989);
  • Vice President of the Federal Executive Council Aleksandar MITROVIC (since 16 March 1989);
  • Vice President of the Federal Executive Council Zivko PREGL (since 16 March 1989)

Political parties and leaders

there are over 100 political parties operating, some only in one republic and others country-wide

Suffrage

at age 16 if employed, universal at age 18

Elections

direct federal elections may never be held because of inter-republic differences over Yugoslavia's future structure

Other political or pressure groups

there are no national political groups; all significant groups are found within the republics

Member of

AfDB, AG (observer), BIS, CCC, CERN (observer), CSCE, ECE, FAO, G-9, G-19, G-24, G-77, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OECD (special), PCA, UN, UNAVEM, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIIMOG, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation

  • Ambassador Dzevad MUJEZINOVIC;
  • Chancery at 2410 California Street NW, Washington DC 20008;
  • telephone (202) 462-6566;
  • there are Yugoslav Consulates General in Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco;
  • US--Ambassador Warren ZIMMERMAN;
  • mailing address Box 5070, Belgrade or APO New York 09213-5070;
  • telephone [38] (11) 645-655;
  • there is a US Consulate General in Zagreb

Flag

three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and red with a large red five-pointed star edged in yellow superimposed in the center over all three bands

Economy

For 20 years Communist Yugoslavia had been trying to replace the Stalinist command economy with a decentralized semimarket system that features worker self-management councils in all large plants.

16 fields
External debt
$18.0billion
medium and long term (December 1990)

Exports $13.3 billion (f.o.b., 1990 est.)commodities, where a share is given

raw materials and semimanufactures
50%consumer goods
31%capital goods and equipment
19%
; partners--EC 53%, USSR and Eastern Europe 27%, less developed countries 12.9%, US 4.8%, other 2.3%

Imports $17.6 billion (c.i.f., 1990 est.)

raw materials and semimanufactures
79%capital goods and equipment
15%consumer goods
6%
; partners--EC 53.5%, USSR and Eastern Europe 22.8%, less developed countries 15.4%, US 4.6%, other 3.7%

Budget

Revenues
$6.4 billionExpenditures
$6.4 billion
expenditures, including capital expenditures of $NA (1990)

Overview

For 20 years Communist Yugoslavia had been trying to replace the Stalinist command economy with a decentralized semimarket system that features worker self-management councils in all large plants. This hybrid system neared collapse in late 1989 when inflation soared. The government applied shock therapy in 1990 under an IMF standby program that provides tight control over monetary expansion, a freeze on wages, the pegging of the dinar to the deutsche mark, and a partial price freeze on energy, transportation, and communal services.

This program brought hyperinflation to a halt and encouraged a rise in foreign investment. Since June 1990, however, inflation has rebounded and threatens to rise further in 1991. Estimated annual inflation for 1990 is 164%. Other huge problems remain: rising unemployment, the low quality of industrial output, and striking differences in income between the poorer southern regions and the comparatively well-off northern areas. Even so, political issues far outweigh economic problems in importance.

GNP

$120.1 billion, per capita $5,040; real growth rate - 6.3% (1990 est.)

Industrial production

growth rate - 10.9% (1990)

Electricity

21,000,000 kW capacity; 83,400 million kWh produced, 3,500 kWh per capita (1990)

Industries

metallurgy, machinery and equipment, petroleum, chemicals, textiles, wood processing, food processing, pulp and paper, motor vehicles, building materials

Agriculture

  • diversified, with many small private holdings and large combines;
  • main crops--corn, wheat, tobacco, sugar beets, sunflowers;
  • occasionally a net exporter of corn, tobacco, foodstuffs, live animals

Economic aid

donor--about $3.5 billion in bilateral aid to non-Communist less developed countries (1966-89)

Currency

  • Yugoslav dinar (plural--dinars);
  • 1 Yugoslav dinar (YD) = 100 paras;
  • note--on 1 January 1990, Yugoslavia began issuing a new currency with 1 new dinar equal to 10,000 YD

Exchange rates

  • Yugoslav dinars (YD) per US$1--13.605 (January 1991), 11.318 (1990), 2.876 (1989), 0.252 (1988), 0.074 (1987), 0.038 (1986), 0.027 (1985);
  • note--as of January 1991 the new dinar is linked to the German deutsche mark at the rate of 9 new dinars per 1 deustche mark

Fiscal year

calendar year

Communications

9 fields

Merchant marine, 277 ships by type

passenger 3short-sea passenger 4cargo 133refrigerated cargo 5container 19roll-on/roll-off cargo 10multifunction large-load carrier 3petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker 9chemical tanker 3combination ore/oil 2bulk 75combination bulk; note--Yugoslavia owns 13 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 253,400 GRT/429,613 DWT under the registry of Liberia, Panama, and Cyprus 11277 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,780,095 GRT/6,031,359 DWT

Airports, 179 total, 179 usable

permanent-surface runways
54runways over 3,659 m
nonerunways 2,440-3,659 m
23runways 1,220-2,439 m
20

Networkskm

Highways
122,062 (1988)Railroads
9,349 (1988)Inland waterways
2,600 (1982)Pipelines
1,373
Highways: ; 73,527 km asphalt, concrete, stone block; 33,663 km macadam, asphalt treated, gravel, crushed stone; 14,872 km earth · Railroads: ; (all 1.435-meter standard gauge) including 931 km double track, 3,760 km electrified · Pipelines: ; 2,900 km natural gas; 150 km refined products

Railroads

9,349 km total; (all 1.435-meter standard gauge) including 931 km double track, 3,760 km electrified (1988)

Highways

  • 122,062 km total;
  • 73,527 km asphalt, concrete, stone block;
  • 33,663 km macadam, asphalt treated, gravel, crushed stone;
  • 14,872 km earth (1988)

Pipelines

  • 1,373 km crude oil;
  • 2,900 km natural gas;
  • 150 km refined products

Ports

Rijeka, Split, Koper, Bar, Ploce; inland port is Belgrade

Civil air

57 major transport aircraft

Telecommunications

  • 1.6 million telephones (97% automatic);
  • 7,500 public telephone booths;
  • stations--85 AM, 69 FM, 103 TV;
  • 4.65 million radios;
  • 4.1 million TVs (1990);
  • 92% of country receives No. 1 television program (1990)

Defense Forces

Yugoslav People's Army--Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Air and Air Defense Forces, Frontier Guard, Territorial Defense Force, Civil Defense

3 fields
Defense expenditures
70.85billion dinars
4-6% of GDP (1991 est.); note--conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the official administratively set exchange rate would produce misleading results

Branches

Yugoslav People's Army--Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Air and Air Defense Forces, Frontier Guard, Territorial Defense Force, Civil Defense

Manpower availability

  • males 15-49, 6,176,693;
  • 5,001,024 fit for military service;
  • 189,886 reach military age (19) annually

Central Intelligence Agency. “Yugoslavia.” The World Factbook 1991. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/yugoslavia.

How to cite ← 1990 edition