region of Europe
The Western Balkans refers to the group of countries that constituted the former Yugoslavia, except Slovenia, plus Albania.
The territory of Yugoslavia, once a major constituent of the Balkans, split into:
| Slovenia Former Yugoslav federal unit, independent since 1991. Wikivoyage treats this as part of Central Europe, rather than Western Balkans. |
| Croatia Former Yugoslav federal unit, independent since 1991 |
| Bosnia Former Yugoslav federal unit, independent since 1991. |
| Serbia Former Yugoslav federal unit, independent since 2006. The dominant unit of the former Yugoslavia, and considered to be its natural successor. |
| Kosovo Former division of the Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Serbia (autonomous province), declared independence from Serbia in 2008, which has not been recognized by Serbia and many other countries (disputed status) |
| Montenegro Former Yugoslav federal unit, independent since 2006 |
| North Macedonia Former Yugoslav federal unit, independent since 1991 |
| Albania An independent country since 1912 |
People in former Yugoslav countries (in particular) often deride the notion of Western Balkans as an artificial or anachronistic grouping of countries and as a euphemism for the Europe's "problem region" in the context of Yugoslavia's breakup and war. As this term has gained a degree of acceptance among the broader public in the past couple of decades, users are inreasingly unaware that it is a political neologism with difficult overtones. Saying 'Western Balkans' is probably not suitable for general conversations (i.e. outside of political speech and political discussions) once you're actually in the Western Balkans; it's more natural to refer to former Yugoslav countries as such, or simply to the Balkans.