Kosovo is a disputed landlocked region in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognized Republic of Kosovo. The Republic of Serbia does not recognize the secession of Kosovo and considers it a self-governing entity within its sovereign territory, the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.

Kosovo was a part of the lands of Thraco-Illyrian tribes, then of the Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian and Ottoman empires. In the 20th century it was part of the Kingdom of Serbia Yugoslavia. Following the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia to halt the killings of civilians during the Kosovo War, the territory came under the interim administration of the United Nations. In February 2008, the Assembly of Kosovo declared Kosovo's independence as the Republic of Kosovo. As of October 2008, its independence is recognized by 52 UN member states, though not by others.

Kosovo borders Albania to the west, Central Serbia to the north and east, the Republic of Macedonia to the south, and Montenegro to the northwest. The largest city and the capital of Kosovo is Pristina (also Prishtina, Priština). According to 2005 Survey of the Statistical Office in Kosovo, Kosovo's total population is estimated between 1.9 and 2.2 million with the following ethnic composition: Albanian 92%, Serbs 4%, Bosniaks and Gorans 2%, Turks 1% and Roma 1%.