Its neighborhood of Resnik marks the southernmost point of the Belgrade City Proper (uža teritorija grada).

The first settlement on the territory of present-day Rakovica was mentioned in the Ottoman 1560 population census as a village called Vlaha.

Tradition has it that the place got its name after the crayfish[2] (Serbian: rak, rakovica), which allegedly inhabited the Rakovički potok which streamed through the village.

However, the local community was later split into several smaller ones, and those strictly comprising the area of the neighborhood of Rakovica had a population of 9,901 in 2002.

[5] During the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia, Rakovica was the only municipality in Belgrade to be targeted almost every night, and eventually every day.

[6] The most heavy attacks were suffered by the Straževica hill (under which was the Yugoslavian underground base), as well as the Monastery forest, most probably because anti-aircraft weapons were located there.

It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Kanarevo Brdo on the north-east, Miljakovac on the east, Kneževac on the south and Vidikovac and Skojevsko Naselje on the west.

However, Rakovica remains one of the most densely populated municipalities of Belgrade with 3,504 inhabitants per square kilometer (9,080/sq mi).

[10] The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):[11]