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)