- The closest neighbor of the EU - Eastern Serbia has 330 km of border with the EU (Romania and Bulgaria).
- Area of 7,133 km²
- Two administrative districts - Zajecar and Bor, two cities - Zajecar and Bor and six municipalities: Knjazevac, Boljevac, Sokobanja, Negotin, Majdanpek and Kladovo.
- 217,000 inhabitants
- More than 6,000 entrepreneurs and 1,500 companies.
- About 53,000 people are employed with an average salary of about 50,500 dinars (net), while there are about 18,000 unemployed.
ECONOMY
Population:
CITY/MUNICIPALITY | DISTRICT | POPULATION |
Bor | Bor district | 44.639 |
Kladovo | 18.332 | |
Majdanpek | 16.174 | |
Negotin | 32.007 | |
District total | 111.152 | |
Boljevac | Zajecar district | 11.148 |
Knjaževac | 27.476 | |
Sokobanja | 13.967 | |
Zaječar | 53.509 | |
District total | 106.100 | |
Eastern Serbia Total | 217.252 |
People with secondary school education dominate the educational structure of the region, including 35.2% women and 48% men, while there are 10% women and 11.6% men with university and master degree.
It is estimated that today more than 30,000 people are in the diaspora.
Total investments in assets in 2018 in Eastern Serbia amounted to 121.5 million euros, and the structure of investments looked like this:
Territory |
Construction |
Land |
Domestic equipment |
Imported equipment |
Cultivated biological |
Intellectual |
Ukupno istočna Srbija | 121.523 | 17.890 | 8.202 | 24.572 | 44.133 | 141 |
Boljevac | 1.848 | 1.421 | 8 | 158 | 254 | 0 |
Bor | 81.733 | 5.647 | 7.076 | 2.931 | 40.082 | 0 |
Zaječar | 6.562 | 1.270 | 5 | 3.930 | 1.323 | 0 |
Kladovo | 2.900 | 1.526 | 15 | 1.224 | 90 | 0 |
Knjaževac | 2.329 | 687 | 30 | 863 | 450 | 135 |
Majdanpek | 9.851 | 930 | 41 | 8.075 | 658 | 6 |
Negotin | 14.502 | 5.246 | 996 | 7.093 | 1.027 | 0 |
Sokobanja | 1.795 | 1.160 | 29 | 296 | 246 | 0 |
Source: Chamber of Commerce of Zajecar and Bor administrative districts
In the period from 2015 to 2019, the total exports of the region of Eastern Serbia more than doubled and had a fairly even growth. Compared to 2015, when it amounted to slightly more than 34 billion dinars, it increased to more than 71 billion in 2019.
The increase in exports in that period amounted to 209%, which is significantly higher than the growth of exports of the Republic of Serbia, which in the same period had a total growth of 142%.
Total exports by years in the period 2015-2019 (in millions of RSD)
Territory | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Bor | 11.252 | 15.616 | 24.897 | 24.844 | 42.930 |
Kladovo | 1.071 | 1.370 | 1.745 | 1.823 | 2.109 |
Majdanpek | 6.829 | 6.082 | 7.071 | 7.439 | 6.644 |
Negotin | 2.100 | 3.421 | 2.774 | 2.221 | 7.726 |
Boljevac | 606 | 631 | 911 | 713 | 851 |
Zaječar | 8.473 | 8.056 | 8.320 | 7.750 | 5.341 |
Knjaževac | 3.781 | 4.579 | 4.581 | 4.875 | 5.735 |
Sokobanja | 3 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 15 |
Eastern Serbia Total | 34.115 | 39.763 | 50.308 | 49.679 | 71.353 |
Imports had a similar trend of export growth, which increased from close to 35 billion dinars in 2015 to almost 73 billion in 2019. This represents the same increase as in the case of exports (209%), which is also significantly more than the increase recorded by the Republic (155%). In that period, Eastern Serbia mostly recorded a surplus.
Total imports by years in the period 2015-2019 (in millions of RSD)
Territory | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Bor | 13.541 | 15.858 | 22.618 | 25.017 | 49.616 |
Kladovo | 2.978 | 1.204 | 1.632 | 1.769 | 1.816 |
Majdanpek | 7.096 | 6.083 | 8.543 | 7.697 | 6.233 |
Negotin | 1.218 | 1.401 | 2.078 | 2.391 | 3.026 |
Boljevac | 274 | 441 | 498 | 377 | 437 |
Zaječar | 7.669 | 7.906 | 9.954 | 9.460 | 9.064 |
Knjaževac | 2.084 | 2.265 | 2.621 | 2.643 | 2.689 |
Sokobanja | 4 | 29 | 27 | 35 | 50 |
Total Eastern Serbia | 34.866 | 35.190 | 47.974 | 49.390 | 72.934 |
On the territory of Eastern Serbia in 2019, about 53,000 people were employed, ie about a quarter of the total population. The structure of the number of employees by activities is dominated by services. Today, about a quarter of the total number of employees work in the processing industry of Eastern Serbia, and mining with nearly 10% of employees is of exceptional importance for the region.
Average salaries without taxes, in the period from 2015-2019 recorded a significant increase from 41,149 dinars in 2015 to 50,474 dinars in 2019.
In 2020, there were 17,963 registered unemployed in Eastern Serbia. The number of the unemployed has been decreasing in the last three years, from 20,710 unemployed in 2018 and 18,967 unemployed in 2019.
In Eastern Serbia in 2019, there were 1,524 active companies and almost 4 times more registered entrepreneurs (6,045). The number of active entrepreneurs has been constantly growing in the last five years.
One of the most significant investments in Eastern Serbia is certainly the purchase of the Bor Mining and Smelting Complex by the Chinese company Zijin, which has so far invested nearly 700 million dollars, and the planned investments in the mine are more than 3 billion dollars in the municipalities of Bor and Majdanpek.
The largest investment in tourism in Serbia is located in Eastern Serbia - in the municipality of Knjazevac, and that is the construction of a ski center on Stara Planina - construction of ski and supporting infrastructure and hotels) in which over 42 million euros have been invested so far.
Significant investments in the region:
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The region of Eastern Serbia also has significant resources for tourism development: the Danube River with Iron Gate Gorge and Djerdap National Park, mountain massifs dominated by Stara Planina, with a ski center, but also Crni Vrh, Kučaj Mountains, Deli Jovan, Mali and Veliki Krš, Miroč, Veliki Greben, Homolje mountains, Ozren, Rtanj, Devica, Tupižnica, Tresibaba, and Vrlejica, then thermo-mineral springs - primarily Sokobanja, as well as Gamzigradska Banja Spa and Brestovačka Banja Spa. There are potentials for further development of tourism in Nikoličevska Banja Spa, Rgoška Banja Spa, Jošanica Banja spa and many others.
Cultural heritage is represented by archeological sites, cultural monuments, ethno-values of traditional villages: archeological sites Gamzigrad-Felix Romuliana (under UNESCO protection), Lepenski Vir, Ravna-Timacum minus, Diana-Zanes, Fetislam, Trajan's tablet, Trajan's bridge, Vrelo -Šarkaman, Sokograd, Vrmdžanski grad, wine cellars in Rajac, Rogljevo and Smedovac, as well as numerous churches and monasteries.
Number of tourists and number of overnight stays in 2019:
By municipalities |
Tourists | Tourist overnights | Average number of tourist overnights | |||||
total | domestic | foreign | total | domestic | foreign | domestic | foreign | |
Bor | 16.215 | 11.276 | 4.939 | 40.327 | 27.138 | 13.189 | 2,4 | 2,7 |
Kladovo | 36.875 | 28.462 | 8.413 | 79.758 | 64.296 | 15.462 | 2,3 | 1,8 |
Majdanpek | 29.372 | 23.642 | 5.730 | 75.058 | 63.394 | 11.664 | 2,7 | 2,0 |
Negotin | 5.932 | 5.197 | 733 | 13.512 | 11.714 | 1.798 | 2,3 | 2,5 |
Zaječar | 20.780 | 13.972 | 6.808 | 61.114 | 38.792 | 25.322 | 2,8 | 3,7 |
Boljevac | 8.905 | 7.141 | 1.764 | 25.865 | 14.071 | 11.794 | 2,0 | 6,7 |
Knjaževac | 24.286 | 15.548 | 5.738 | 81.347 | 65.516 | 15.831 | 3,5 | 2,8 |
Sokobanja | 124.877 | 105.151 | 16.726 | 588.422 | 540.928 | 47.494 | 5,0 | 2,8 |
Total Eastern Serbia | 267.240 | 216.389 | 50.851 | 968.403 | 825.849 | 142.554 | 3,5 | 2,7 |
Source: Republic Statistical Office
By tourist resorts |
Tourists | Tourist overnights | Average number of tourist overnights | |||||
total | domestic | foreign | total | domestic | foreign | domestic | foreign | |
Gamzigradska banja | 2.072 | 1.685 | 387 | 21.991 | 16.537 | 5.454 | 9,8 | 14,1 |
Sokobanja | 124.877 | 108.151 | 16.726 | 588.422 | 540.928 | 47.494 | 5,0 | 2,8 |
Majdanpek | 5.134 | 3.189 | 1.945 | 14.615 | 9.688 | 4.927 | 3,0 | 2,5 |
Rajac | 2.737 | 2.510 | 227 | 8.424 | 8.056 | 368 | 3,2 | 1,6 |
Rtanj | 2.886 | 2.671 | 215 | 5.609 | 5.176 | 433 | 1,9 | 2,0 |
Stara planina | 21.873 | 17.342 | 4.531 | 75.534 | 62.011 | 13.523 | 3,6 | 3,0 |
Bor | 14.178 | 9.798 | 4.380 | 32.843 | 21.565 | 11.278 | 2,2 | 2,6 |
Donji Milanovac | 24.238 | 20.453 | 3.785 | 60.443 | 53.706 | 6.737 | 2,6 | 1,8 |
Zaječar | 18.122 | 11.971 | 6.151 | 40.997 | 21.654 | 19.343 | 1,8 | 3,1 |
Kladovo | 33.719 | 25.513 | 8.206 | 67.513 | 52.406 | 15.107 | 2,1 | 1,8 |
Source: Republic Statistical Office