American media: 10 facts you do not know about Kosovo

1. Kosovo is the second newest state in the world, declaring its independence on February 17th 2008. Only South Sudan has declared independence after Kosovo.

2. Serbia and five European Union countries, such as Greece, Spain, Slovakia, Cyprus and Romania, including Russia and China, have not recognised its independence, until the International Court of Justice ruled in 2010 that Kosovo is a sovereign state.

3. Kosovo has no access to the sea and is the smallest state in the Balkans. About 40 percent of its land is covered in forests and slightly more than the other half is agricultural land, writes the American newspaper US NEWS.

4. In Kosovo more than 40 per cent of the population is under the age of 25, which is to be the country with the youngest population in Europe.

5. Europe's newest state is the poorest on this continent after Moldova.

6. Most of Kosovo's population belong to the Muslim religion, while Albanian and Serbian are official languages.

7. The Ottoman Empire invaded Kosovo from the middle of the 20th century to the beginning of the 20th century, during which Islam grew and the number of Albanian speakers increased, thus leading to tensions between the new ethnic Muslim majority and the Serb Orthodox minority, the American newspaper USWeWS writes.

8. Before the 1990s and away Albanians opposed the Serbs and the government of Yugoslavia hundreds of Albanian civilians were killed and thousands more were expelled from their homes.

9. The statue of former US President Bill Clinton stands in Pristina in the square that bears his name. Clinton helped end the war in the late 1999s. In Pristina, one street also bears the name of former President George W. Bush, who recognised Kosovo's independence in 2008.

10. There is also in the capital the Catholic cathedral, which bears the name of Mother Teresa, who gave many to the world in humanism, writes the American newspaper US NEWS, broadcasts Klan Kosova.