Belgrade

Chipped stone tools found in Zemun show that the area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras. Some of these tools are of Mousterian industry—belonging to Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Aurignacian and Gravettian tools have also been discovered near the area, indicating some settlement between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. The first farming people to settle in the region are associated with the Neolithic Starčevo culture, which flourished between 6200 and 5200 BC. There are several Starčevo sites in and around Belgrade, including the eponymous site of Starčevo. The Starčevo culture was succeeded by the Vinča culture (5500–4500 BC), a more sophisticated farming culture that grew out of the earlier Starčevo settlements and also named for a site in the Belgrade region (Vinča-Belo Brdo). …

Belgrade lies 116.75 m (383.0 ft) above sea level and is located at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. The historical core of Belgrade, Kalemegdan, lies on the right banks of both rivers. Since the 19th century, the city has been expanding to the south and east; after World War II, New Belgrade was built on the left bank of the Sava river, connecting Belgrade with Zemun. Smaller, chiefly residential communities across the Danube, like Krnjača, Kotež and Borča, also merged with the city, while Pančevo, a heavily industrialised satellite city, remains separate. The city has an urban area of 360 km2 (140 sq mi), while together with its metropolitan area it covers 3,223 km2 (1,244 sq mi). On the right bank of the Sava, central Belgrade has a hilly terrain, while the highest point of Belgrade proper is Torlak hill at 303 m (994 ft). …

According to the BBC, Belgrade is one of the five most creative cities in the world. Belgrade hosts many annual international cultural events, including the Film Festival, Theatre Festival, Summer Festival, BEMUS, Belgrade Early Music Festival, Book Fair, Belgrade Choir Festival, Eurovision Song Contest 2008, and the Beer Fest. In 2022 Belgrade was also home to the Europride event, even though the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, tried to cancel it. The Nobel Prize winning author Ivo Andrić wrote his most famous work, The Bridge on the Drina, in Belgrade. Other prominent Belgrade authors include Branislav Nušić, Miloš Crnjanski, Borislav Pekić, Milorad Pavić and Meša Selimović. The most internationally prominent artists from Belgrade are Charles Simic, Marina Abramović and Milovan Destil Marković. Most of Serbia's film industry is based in Belgrade. …

Belgrade is the financial centre of Serbia and Southeast Europe, with a total of 17×10^6 m2 (180×10^6 sq ft) of office space. It is also home to the country's Central Bank. 750,550 people are employed (July 2020) in 120,286 companies, 76,307 enterprises and 50,000 shops. The City of Belgrade itself owns 267,147 m2 (2,875,550 sq ft) of rentable office space. As of 2024, Belgrade contained 29.8% of Serbia's employed population and generated over 43.2% of its GDP. For 2026, the IMF estimated Serbia's GDP PPP to be $226,4 billion, while Belgrade's GDP stood at $96,45 billion or $58,452 per capita. New Belgrade is the country's Central business district and one of Southeastern Europe's financial centres. It offers a range of facilities, such as hotels, congress halls (e.g. Sava Centar), Class A and B office buildings, and business parks (e.g. Airport City Belgrade). Over 1. …

Belgrade has an extensive public transport system consisting of buses (118 urban lines and more than 300 suburban lines), trams (12 lines), trolleybuses (8 lines) and BG Voz (6 lines). Buses, trolleybuses and trams are run by GSP Beograd and SP Lasta in cooperation with private companies on some bus routes. The suburban train network, BG Voz, run by city government in cooperation with Serbian Railways, is a part of the integrated transport system, and has three lines (Batajnica-Ovča and Ovča-Resnik and Belgrade centre-Mladenovac), with more announced. As of 27 February 2024 tickets may be purchased either via SMS or in physical paper form via the Beograd plus / Београд плус system. Daily connections link the capital to other towns in Serbia and many other European destinations through the city's central bus station. Since January 2025 all public transport in Belgrade is free. …

According to the 2022 census, the population of the city proper stands at 1,197,114, its contiguous urban area (including the adjacent settlements of Borča, Kaluđerica, and Surčin) has 1,298,661 inhabitants, while the population of the city's administrative area (often equated with its metropolitan area) totals 1,681,405 people. However, Belgrade's metropolitan area has not been defined, either statistically or administratively, and it sprawls into the neighboring municipalities of Pančevo, Pećinci, and Stara Pazova. Belgrade is home to many ethnicities from across the former Yugoslavia and the wider Balkans region. The main ethnic group comprising over 86% of the metropolitan population of Belgrade are Serbs (1,449,241). …