Region of southeastern
Europe, usually considered to comprise
Greece,
Albania,
Bulgaria, the European part of
Turkey and the former (pre-1991) republics of
Yugoslavia, with a combined area of 550,000 sq. km. and population of 53 million. Once the most developed part of Europe, in the past 550 years it has been the least developed, reflecting the shift of Europe's commercial and political centre of gravity towards the Atlantic and comparative Balkan isolation under the
Ottoman Empire from the mainstream of economic advance. Principal nationalities include Serbs (11 million), Greeks (10.8 million), Turks (9.2 million), Bulgars (7 million),
Albanians (6 million) and Croats (4.5 million). In recent years the region has been affected by conflict in the former Yugoslav republics, resulting in intervention by
NATO forces in
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Kosovo and
Macedonia.
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