Kosovo, a small country located in the Balkan region of Europe is celebrating its 9th anniversary today on 17 February 2017. Exactly 9 years ago, the whole country and all the Kosovar refugees located in Western countries, celebrated their independence after their country was liberated from Serbia during the Yugoslav war that lasted from 1991-2001 in former Yugoslavia and the war in Kosovo itself from 1998-1999.

This small country has currently only 2 million inhabitants but there are many other people that have fled during the war and who are now located all over the world. In fact, it’s hard to come across a city that doesn’t have inhabitants with Albanian ethnicity.

Although the country is small, it’s determined to leave its mark on the world and has already started that progress. Here are three things about Kosovo that are quite remarkable, that you might not have known before:

1. Different religions live in harmony together

The majority of Kosovo’s population is Muslim (90%) but there are other religions present as well, such as Roman Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians. The great thing about these religions in Kosovo is that they live together in peace. The capital Prishtina, for example, has a Cathedral located in the center of the city.

2. First Golden Medaille in 2016

In the Olympics of 2016, Kosovo celebrated when Majlinda Kelmendi became the first Kosovar athlete to win a golden medal in the women’s -52kg category for Judo in Rio de Janeiro.

3. Worldwide famous Kosovar-Albanian singers from Kosovo

There are many singers out there that you might not have known were Kosovar-Albanian like Rita Ora, Dua Lipa and Era Istrefi. Kosovar-Albanian singers are always proud of their roots and try to represent their country as good as possible.