Municipal Profile

Population in the 2024 census

41,799 residents · 9,180 households

According to the 2024 Population, Households and Housing Census of the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, the Municipality of Rahovec has 41,799 residents — 20,920 men and 20,879 women. Compared with the 2011 census (56,208 residents), the population has fallen by 14,409, or about 25.6%.

13,642 people live in the town of Rahovec and 28,157 in the villages. Most residents are Albanians (40,491, or 96.9%), followed by Serbs (582), Ashkali (323), Egyptians (255) and Roma (108).

The working-age population (15–64) is 28,185, children up to 14 number 9,075, and 4,539 residents are 65 or older. The municipality has 9,180 households and 13,970 dwellings, 3,784 of which are empty.

Geographic profile

Valley plain, hills and mountains

Rahovec lies in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula, in South-Eastern Europe. Its territory covers the central and southern part of the Dukagjin plain and is divided into three units or micro-regions: the valley plain, the hills and the mountains.

To the north it borders the Municipality of Klina (about 45 km), to the north-east Malisheva (about 16 km), to the south-east Suhareka (about 17 km) and Mamusha, to the south Prizren (25 km) and to the west Gjakova (28 km). It is about 60 km from Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo.

The average annual temperature is 11.68 °C and average rainfall is 707.7 mm. Snowfall is heaviest in January, with an average of 15.7 days of snow a year. Fog occurs on an average of 19.7 days a year, or 5.4%.

Two areas in the municipality have special protected status: the Zoçishtë Monastery and the village of Hoçë e Madhe.

Main branches of the local economy

About 50% of Kosovo’s vineyards

With its rich history of wine-making and its fertile land, the Municipality of Rahovec has great potential for future development. Economic development is focused mainly on agriculture, viticulture and vegetable growing.

The municipality holds about 50% of Kosovo’s vineyard area and of its processing capacity. Viticulture and wine are also the basis of tourism: festivals such as “Hardh Fest” (the Grape Harvest Festival) and the family cellars draw visitors from Kosovo and the diaspora.

In the 2025 municipal budget, subsidies for agriculture, forestry and rural development are planned at €440,000 — the largest share of municipal subsidies.

Education

6,999 children and pupils · 699 teachers · 41 institutions

In the 2025/2026 school year, the public education institutions of the Municipality of Rahovec have 6,999 children and pupils: 320 in pre-school, 544 in pre-primary, 5,123 in primary and lower secondary education (grades 1–9) and 1,012 in upper secondary education.

The municipality has 41 public institutions: 4 pre-school, 33 primary and lower secondary schools and 4 upper secondary schools (32 main schools and 9 satellite branches). They employ 699 teachers — on average 12.5 pupils per teacher in grades 1–9 and 14.9 in upper secondary schools.

According to the 2024 census, 9,011 residents aged 5–29 are in education, 1,227 of them at bachelor level and 147 at master level; 4,096 residents over 10 have completed higher education.

Health

1 main centre, 6 centres and 7 clinics

Health care in the Municipality of Rahovec is organised in the public sector, which provides primary-level services, and in the private sector, which provides primary services in specialised medical fields.

The public health institutions are: the Main Family Medicine Centre (1 in the town of Rahovec), Family Medicine Centres (6) and Family Medicine Clinics (7).

Municipal property

1,540 parcels — 56,819,776 m²

The municipality owns 1,540 parcels of municipal property, with a total area of 56,819,776 m².

Culture

Gallery, theatre, 430-seat cinema, 9,000 books

A range of cultural activities take place in the Municipality of Rahovec: music, theatre, library events, exhibitions and more. They are held at the Cultural Centre in Rahovec, the Houses of Culture in Krushë e Madhe, Hoçë e Madhe and Ratkoc, and at the Youth Centre in Rahovec.

Cultural activities are organised mainly by the municipal directorate, together with cultural associations and clubs such as “Art-Studio”, “Nirvana-Club”, the Association of Artists of the Municipality of Rahovec, the “Labirinti” puzzle-makers’ association, the cultural-artistic societies “Rahoveci”, “Bajram Curri”, “Heronjtë e Kosovës”, “Anadrinia” and “Vëllezërit Frashëri”, and the music groups “Boemat”, “Sokolat” and others.

The municipality has an Art Gallery with very good exhibition conditions, hosting at least 12 exhibitions a year; a Theatre that works on an amateur, voluntary basis; a 430-seat cinema hall in the House of Culture; and the Library in Rahovec, with around 9,000 books.

Sport

Football, basketball, handball, chess and motor racing

Three football teams are active in the Municipality of Rahovec — one plays in the First League of Kosovo and the other two in the second leagues — along with two football schools, basketball teams for both men and women, a basketball school, a handball club, a chess club and a motor-racing team.

Tourism

Historic monuments over 400 years old

Cultural tourism can draw mainly on the area’s cultural and architectural heritage: traditional houses, archaeological sites, caves, hammams, and the architectural and religious heritage of Hoçë e Madhe.

In the town centre stand historic monuments built more than 400 years ago: the Great Halveti Tekke, the Rufai Tekke, the Melami Tekke, the Clock Tower (Sahat Kulla) raised in 1791, five mosques and other tekkes in the town and its surroundings.

The village of Hoçë e Madhe, south of Rahovec and known for its vineyards and wines, is home to cultural and religious heritage sites. In 1198 Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja granted the region’s produce to the Hilandar Monastery (Mount Athos), and in the Middle Ages the area became a major commercial and cultural centre. It has 12 churches: St Nicholas, St John, St Stephen (14th century), the Church of Holy Sunday, St Paraskeva, St Anne, St Luke and St Peter (16th century), the Holy Virgin and St Elijah. Exceptionally rare are the large wine stores in the village centre, with casks up to 5 metres high and 4 metres wide.

Transport

Four categories of roads

All four categories of roads classified in Kosovo exist in the Municipality of Rahovec, from main roads down to uncategorised ones. The road network consists of:

Main roads — M9.1 (Gjakova – Prishtina);

Regional roads — R107 Prizren – Gjakova, R117 Rahovec – Suhareka, R111 Xërxë – Ratkoc – Kramovik, R204 Rahovec – Krushë e Madhe, R110 Malisheva – Rahovec – Xërxë;

Local roads — connecting the 34 cadastral municipalities with a total of 36 settlements, including the roads that link the main neighbourhoods of the settlements;

Uncategorised roads — linking village neighbourhoods and all the areas where social and economic activities take place.