A follow up to the
previous
After the restoration abolition of the federal system, Serbia was divided into geographically-based regions (области). As of 2018, there are 30 regions. It should be noted that the Strumica area, technically loaned to Serbia after WW1, was permanently acquired via a 20 billion euro (the euro was created similar to OTL, but is a little weaker than OTL) purchase in 2016 (I heard something that Strumica will be ceded to Bulgaria next year, the 100 year period is up, might not be true tho). According to 2017 census, there are 30.532.000 inhabitants (Though WW2 was bloodier and longer, the regime started a pro-birth campaign almost immediately and never stopped - SFRY had about 23 million in 1991, Serbia 26 in 1997 TTL), with one of the highest birth rates in Europe, the average family having a very high (for Europe) 4 children, helped by the natalist policies practiced continously for almost 70 years, and extremely favorable laws towards mothers, even if the majority of women are unemployed - the effect being that the average wage in Serbia is deceptively high, due to one parent having to take care of their spouse and children by themselves. Serbia, Ireland, Finland and Albania are the only countries with a birth rate above replacement rate.
The autarkic system of the isolation period adapted extremely well to the market economy - because the regime encouraged competition between the innumerable companies. When the country opened up, a flood of cheap but rather high quality, if slightly obsolete products "invaded" Europe. The switch to a full market economy never occurred though - Serbia, along with Russia and China among others, has a mixed economy, with a skyrocketing share of private enterprise. This proven to be a wise idea - Pashtunia suffered ruin after a sudden shift to a full market economy, and they still haven't recovered. Serbia has the 10th highest nominal GDP in Europe - 530000 million dollars (a little bigger than OTL Poland), and the HDI of 0,860 (a lil' higher than OTL Andorra). Citizens are described as extremely happy and satisfied.
Interestingly enough, it has been revealed that most infrastructure that was constructed in a manner that didn't make much sense in the federal system now fits in perfectly into the new one, suggesting that this was planned a long time before even becoming official...
10 biggest cities:
1. Belgrade (capital) - 2.140.000 - almost unrecognizable compared to OTL - the entire city was completely destroyed in the war, and the rebuilding was total. Much greener.
2. Bitolj - 1.850.000 - described as somewhat otherworldly and strange due to it's unusual architecture, a mixture of styles, the handiwork of the rather eccentric planners and architects in the period 1965-1976. The clash between the center, a rather faithful recreation of the old style, the newer additions with strange buildings and the newest ones with often kitschy, tacky apartments is somewhat not unlike Belgrade OTL. The most famous building is the city council building, described as "a mixture of a ziggurat, Neuschwanstein and the Parthenon".
3. Niš - 1.340.000 - described as "neoclassical" and "neobyzantine".
4. Skoplje - 1.057.200 - the earthquake happened as OTL, and it's even more brutalist than OTL.
5. Split - 870.000 - Serbia's principal seaport.
6. Dimitrovica - 535.000 - All the ore from the region is processed here, so the city is pretty polluted, countered by an overkill amount of parks and forests, resulting in a rather spread out city. Fierce rivalry with Priština, which was deliberately depopulated, and now they know why.
8. Mostar - 483.000 - Apart from Dubrovnik, pretty much the only larger city in the region. Split in 4 - The lower left city, upper left city, lower right city and upper right city, depending on whether or not they are in the narrow canyon of the Neretva or the plateau around it, and what side of the river they're on.
9. Zagreb - 289.000 - very,
VERY strange to see all the Croat checkerboard flags wielded by folks doing the 3-finger salute every time the victory parade is going on.
10. Rovinj - 230.700 - Serbia's 2nd most important port. For some reason stereotyped as having unhealthily thin, stunted women, apparently something regarding the Italians in the area.
As you can see, just in the 10 biggest cities there are 8.794.900 people - more than all of Serbia OTL! Nevertheless, as you can see the cities get suddenly much smaller, and 57% of the population is rural. Many cities as you can see are much smaller TTL as they're not even on the list.
Map of Serbia, with regions (regions are named after their capital):
1. Varaždin region
2. Ljubljana region
3. Rovinj region
4. Virovitica region
5. Zagreb region
6. Petrovgrad (Zrenjanin) region
7. Bač region
8. Pakrac region
9. Karlovac region
10. Banja Luka region
11. Doboj region
12. Loznica region
13. Krupa region
14. Belgrade region
15. Petrovac region
16. Zaječar region
17. Split region
18. Lapovo region
19. Vrhbosna (Sarajevo) region
20. Mostar region
21. Kraljevo region
22. Pljevlja region
23. Niš region
24. Dimitrovica (Mitrovica) region
25. Danilovgrad region
26. Orahovac region
27. Vranje region
28. Skoplje region
29. Štip region
30. Bitolj region