South Banat District (Serbian: Јужнобанатски округ, Južnobanatski okrug) is a northeastern district of Serbia with the seat of the district in Pančevo. It lies in the region of Banat, in the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It has a population of 313,937 (2002).

Name

In Serbian, the district is known as Južnobanatski okrug or Јужнобанатски округ, in Croatian as Južnobanatski okrug, in Hungarian as Dél Bánsági Körzet, in Slovak as Juhobanátsky okres, in Romanian as Districtul Banatul de Sud, and in Rusyn as Јужнобанатски окрух.

Municipalities

It encompasses the following municipalities:

• Plandište
• Opovo
• Kovačica (Slovak: Kovačica)
• Alibunar
• Vršac
• Bela Crkva
• Pančevo
• Kovin

Lokve

Ethnic groups

The major ethnic groups (2002) are:

• Serbs: 220,641 (70.28%)
• Romanians: 21,618 (6.88%)
• Hungarians: 15,444 (4.91%)
• Slovaks: 15,212 (4.84%)
• Macedonians: 7,636 (2.43%)
• Roma: 6,268 (1.99%)
• Yugoslavs: 5,687 (1.81%)

Most of the municipalities in the district have an ethnic Serb majority, while the municipality of Kovačica is ethnically mixed, with a relative Slovak majority (41%).

Culture

Pančevo is distinguished for its numerous cultural institutions: the National Library 'Veljko Vlahović', the Historic Archives, and the Institute for Protection of Culture Monuments.

The most remarkable cultural monuments of this region are: The Vojlovica Monastery, built in 1405, the Church of Assumption and the Church of Transfiguration built in 1811 and the National Museum, built in 1833.

Economy

In this modern, industrial region stand out the Pančevo Oil Refinery, the Azotara Fertilizers Plants, and the Pančevo Petrochemistry.

Note: All official material made by Government of Serbia is public by law. Information was taken from official website