PRISTINA — As Kosovo marks its fifth year of independence, many Kosovars don’t have much to celebrate: With unemployment around 50 percent and some 40 percent of the population living below the poverty line, crippling corruption and an economy sustained by international aid, Europe’s youngest country still faces huge obstacles to becoming a secure, self-sufficient state. Kosovo has failed to join the UN and other international organizations, but not everything appears bleak. Serbia’s new government has taken strides to normalize relations with its former province, which may eventually help pave the way for both countries to join the European Union.

PRISTINA — In the aftermath of the U.S.-led war in Kosovo, this nascent democracy became a hub of the global trade in human beings.