Claim: Serbia is a European country.

Serbia -LRB- -LSB- ˈsɜrbiə -RSB- , Србија / Srbija , -LSB- sř̩bija -RSB- -RRB- , officially the Republic of Serbia -LRB- Република Србија / Republika Srbija -RRB- , is a landlocked sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe , covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans . Serbia is situated along a number of cultural , geographic , and climatic crossroads . It borders Hungary to the north ; Romania and Bulgaria to the east ; Macedonia to the south ; and Croatia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Montenegro to the southwest . It claims a border with Albania through the disputed territory of Kosovo . Serbia numbers around 7 million residents ; its capital , Belgrade , ranks among the oldest and largest cities in Southeast Europe .   Following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans postdating the 6th century , Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages . The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217 , reaching its peak in 1346 as a relatively short-lived Serbian Empire . By the mid-16th century , the entire modern-day Serbia was annexed by the Ottomans , at times interrupted by the Habsburg Empire , which started expanding towards Central Serbia from the end of the 17th century , while maintaining a foothold in modern-day Vojvodina . In the early 19th century , the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the region 's first constitutional monarchy , which subsequently expanded its territory . Following disastrous casualties in World War I , and the subsequent unification of the former Habsburg crownland of Vojvodina -LRB- and other territories -RRB- with Serbia , the country co-founded Yugoslavia with other South Slavic peoples , which would exist in various political formations until the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s . During the breakup of Yugoslavia , Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006 , when Serbia reestablished its independence . In 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence , with mixed responses from the international community .   Serbia is a member of numerous organizations such as the UN , CoE , OSCE , PfP , BSEC , and CEFTA . An EU membership candidate since 2012 , Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014 . The country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state . Serbia is an upper-middle income economy with dominant service sector , followed by the industrial sector and agriculture . The country ranks high on the Human Development Index -LRB- 66th -RRB- , Social Progress Index -LRB- 47th -RRB- as well as the Global Peace Index -LRB- 48th -RRB- .