The 11 countries lying on the Balkan Peninsula are called the Balkan states or just the Balkans. This region lies on the southeastern edge of the European continent. Some Balkan countries such as Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Macedonia were once part of Yugoslavia. Test and grow your knowledge of the Balkans here. Balkan States Defining Balkan states is difficult for various geopolitical reasons, and Balkan boundaries have been the topic of much debate between scholars. Though there is some disagreement as to exactly how many countries are encompassed in the Balkan region, these 11 nations are generally accepted as Balkan. 1. Albania, or the Republic of Albania, has a total population of approximately 3 million people. It is located in the western part of the Balkan peninsula and features a long coastline facing the Adriatic Sea. Albania's capital city is Tirana and its official language is Albanian. Its government is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic. 2. The country known as Bosnia and Herzegovina is located east of Albania and its capital city is Sarajevo. Bosnia and Herzegovina is ethnically diverse and comprised of three major ethnic groups: Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats. This nation has a total population of about 3.8 million people, most of whom speak either Bosnian, Croatian, or Serbian, many speaking all three. This government is a parliamentary representative democracy. 3. There are approximately 7 million people living in the Republic of Bulgaria today3 and they speak the official language of Bulgarian, a Slavic language related to Macedonian. Bulgaria's capital city is Sofia. 4. Croatia, located on the western edge of the Balkan peninsula along the Adriatic Sea, is a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The capital city is Zagreb. Croatia has a population of 4.2 million people, about 90% of whom are ethnically Croats. The official language is Standard Croatian. 5. The Republic of Kosovo has a population of approximately 1.9 million people and the official languages are Albanian and Serbian. It is a multi-party parliamentary representative democratic republic and the country's capital city is Prishtina. About 93% of Kosovo's population is ethnically Albanian. Moldova, located in the eastern region of the Balkans, has a population of about 3.4 million people, 75% of whom are ethnic Moldovans. Moldova is a parliamentary representative democratic republic and its official language is Moldovan, a variety of Romanian. The capital city is Chisinau. The 610,000 people living in tiny Montenegro speak the official language Montenegrin.7Ethnicity is varied here, with 45% Montenegrin and 29% Serbian. The capital city is Podgorica and the political structure is a parliamentary representative ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2c43gFqWSs