# The World Factbook (1990)/Yugoslavia

pages 344–345
​Yugoslavia
See regional map V
Geography
Total area: 255,800 km²; land area: 255,400 km²
Comparative area: slightly larger than Wyoming
Land boundaries: 2,961 km total; Albania 486 km, Austria 311 km, Bulgaria 539 km, Greece 246 km, Hungary 631 km, Italy 202 km, Romania 546 km
Coastline: 3,935 km (including 2,414 km offshore islands)
Maritime claims:
    Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
    Territorial sea: 12 nm
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: 28% arable land; 3% permanent crops; 25% meadows and pastures; 36% forest and woodland; 8% other; includes 1% irrigated
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
Population: 23,841,608 (July 1990), growth rate 0.6% (1990)
Birth rate: 15 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 22 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 70 years male, 76 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 1.9 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Yugoslav(s); adjective—Yugoslav
Ethnic divisions: 36.3% Serb, 19.7% Croat, 8.9% Muslim, 7.8% Slovene, 7.7% Albanian, 5.9% Macedonian, 5.4% Yugoslav, 2.5% Montenegrin, 1.9% Hungarian, 3.9% other (1981 census)
Religion: 50% Eastern Orthodox, 30% Roman Catholic, 9% Muslim, 1% Protestant, 10% other
Language: Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, Macedonian (all official); Albanian, Hungarian
Literacy: 90.5%
Labor force: 9,600,000; 22% agriculture, 27% mining and manufacturing; about 5% of labor force are guest workers in Western Europe (1986)
Organized labor: 6,200,000 members in the Confederation of Trade Unions of Yugoslavia (SSJ)
Government
Long-form name: Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; abbreviated SFRY
Type: Communist state, federal republic in form
Capital: Belgrade
Administrative divisions: 6 socialist republics (socijalističke republike, singular—socijalistička republika); Bosna I Hercegovina, Crna Gora, Hrvatska, Makedonija, Slovenija, Srbija; note—there are two autonomous provinces (autonomne pokajine, singular—autonomna pokajina) named Kosovo and Vojvodina within Srbija
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
Legal system: mixture of civil law system and Communist legal theory; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: Proclamation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 29 November (1945)
Executive branch: president of the Collective State Presidency, vice president of the Collective State Presidency, Collective State Presidency, president of the Federal Executive Council, two vice presidents of the Federal Executive Council, Federal Executive Council
Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly (Savezna Skupština) consists of an upper chamber or Chamber of Republics and Provinces and a lower chamber or Federal Chamber
Judicial branch: Federal Court (Savezna Sud), Constitutional Court
Leaders: Chief of State President of the Collective State Presidency Janez DRNOVŠEK (from Slovenija; one-year term expires 15 May 1990); Vice President of the Collective State Presidency—Borisav JOVIĆ (from Srbija; one-year term expires 15 May 1990); note—the offices of president and vice president rotate annually among members of the Collective State 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 MARKOVIĆ (since 16 March 1989); Vice President of the Federal Executive Council Aleksandar MITROVIĆ (since 16 March 1989); Vice President of the Federal Executive Council Zivko PREGL (since 16 March 1989)
Political parties and leaders: there are about 90 political parties operating country-wide including the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY)
Suffrage: at age 16 if employed, universal at age 18
Elections: direct national elections probably will be held in late 1990
Communists: 2,079,013 party members (1988)
Other political or pressure groups: Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia (SAWPY), the major mass front organization; Confederation of Trade Unions of Yugoslavia (CTUY), League of Socialist Youth of Yugoslavia, Federation of Veterans' Associations of Yugoslavia (SUBNOR)
Member of: ASSIMER, CCC, CEMA (observer but participates in certain commissions), FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IDB—Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, ILZSG, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, ITC, ITU, NAM, OECD (participant in some activities), UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Dzevad MUJEZINOVIĆ; 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; Embassy at Kneza Milosa 50, Belgrade; 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
Overview: Tito's reform programs 20 years ago changed the Stalinist command economy to a decentralized semimarket system but a system that the rigid, ethnically divided political structure ultimately could not accommodate. A prominent feature of the reforms was the establishment of workers' self-management councils in all large plants, which were to select managers, stimulate production, and divide the proceeds. The general result of these reforms has been rampant wage-price inflation, substantial rundown of capital plant, consumer shortages, and a still larger income gap between the poorer southern regions and the relatively affluent northern provinces of Hrvatska and Slovenija. In 1988-89 the beleaguered central government has been reforming the reforms, trying to create an open market economy with still considerable state ownership of major industrial plants. These reforms have been moving forward with the advice and support of the International Monetary Fund through a series of tough negotiations. Self-management supposedly is to be replaced by the discipline of the market and by fiscal austerity, ultimately leading to a stable dinar. However, strikes in major plants, hyperinflation, and interregional political jousting have held back progress. According to US economic advisers, only a highly unlikely combination of genuine privatization, massive Western economic investment and aid, and political moderation can salvage this economy.
GNP: $129.5 billion, per capita $5,464; real growth rate -1.0% (1989 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2,700% (1989 est.)
Unemployment rate: 15% (1989)
Budget: revenues $6.4 billion; expenditures $6.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1990)
Exports: $13.1 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities—raw materials and semimanufactures 50%, consumer goods 31%, capital goods and equipment 19%; partners—EC 30%, CEMA 45%, less developed countries 14%, US 5%, other 6%
Imports: $13.8 billion (c.i.f., 1988); commodities—raw materials and semimanufactures 79%, capital goods and equipment 15%, consumer goods 6%; partners—EC 30%, CEMA 45%, less developed countries 14%, US 5%, other 6%
External debt: $17.0 billion, medium and long term (1989)
Industrial production: growth rate -1% (1989 est.)
Electricity: 21,000,000 kW capacity; 87,100 million kWh produced, 3,650 kWh per capita (1989)
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
Aid: donor—about $3.5 billion in bilateral aid to non-Communist less developed countries (1966-88)
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—118,568 (January 1990), 28,764 (1989), 2,523 (1988), 737 (1987), 379 (1986), 270 (1985); note—as of February 1990 the new dinar is linked to the FRG deutsche mark at the rate of 7 new dinars per 1 deustche mark
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Railroads: 9,270 km total; (all 1.435-meter standard gauge) including 926 km double track, 3,771 km electrified (1987)
Highways: 120,747 km total; 71,315 km asphalt, concrete, stone block; 34,299 km macadam, asphalt treated, gravel, crushed stone; 15,133 km earth (1987)
Inland waterways: 2,600 km (1982)
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
Merchant marine: 270 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,608,705 GRT/5,809,219 DWT; includes 3 passenger, 4 short-sea passenger, 131 cargo, 3 refrigerated cargo, 16 container, 14 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 3 multifunction large-load carrier, 9 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 3 chemical tanker, 3 combination ore/oil, 73 bulk, 8 combination bulk; note—Yugoslavia owns 19 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 229,614 GRT/353,224 DWT under the registry of Liberia, Panama, and Cyprus
Civil air: NA major transport aircraft
Airports: 184 total, 184 usable; 54 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 22 with runways 2,440 to 3,659 m; 20 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: stations—199 AM, 87 FM, 50 TV; 4,107,846 TV sets; 4,700,000 radio receivers; satellite earth stations—1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT
Defense Forces
Branches: Yugoslav People's Army Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Air and Air Defense Forces, Frontier Guard, Territorial Defense Force, Civil Defense
Military manpower: males 15-49, 6,135,628; 4,970,420 fit for military service; 188,028 reach military age (19) annually
Defense expenditures: 14.8 trillion dinars, 4.6% of national income (1989 est.); note—conversion of the military budget into US dollars using the official administratively set exchange rate would produce misleading results