Serbia with several other states protest the US and other states' recognition of Kosovo's declaration of its status as a sovereign and independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian municipalities along Kosovo's northern border challenge final status of Kosovo-Serbia boundary; several thousand NATO-led Kosovo Force peacekeepers under UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo authority continue to keep the peace within Kosovo between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority in Kosovo; Serbia delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and Herzegovina, but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute
Illicit drugs
major European transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and, to a lesser degree, South American cocaine for the European market; limited producer of precursor chemicals; vulnerable to money laundering because of corruption, organized crime; some money laundering of drug-related proceeds through financial institutions
transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin moving to Western Europe on the Balkan route; economy vulnerable to money laundering
Refugees and internally displaced persons
refugees (country of origin): 17,551 (Syria) (2019)
stateless persons: 1,141 (2020)
note: 61,920 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals (January 2015-July 2021); Bulgaria is predominantly a transit country
refugees (country of origin): 17,972 (Croatia), 8,198 (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (2019)
IDPs: 196,995 (most are Kosovar Serbs, some are Roma, Ashkalis, and Egyptian (RAE); some RAE IDPs are unregistered) (2021)
stateless persons: 2,144 (includes stateless persons in Kosovo) (2020)
note: 779,905 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals (January 2015-August 2021); Serbia is predominantly a transit country and hosts an estimated 6,165 migrants and refugees as of April 2021
