Guide to Bosnia and Herzegovina Introduction Background: Bosnia and Herzegovina's declaration of sovereignty in October 1991, was followed by a declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia on 3 March 1992 after a referendum boycotted by ethnic Serbs. The Bosnian Serbs - supported by neighboring Serbia and Montenegro - responded with armed resistance aimed at partitioning the republic along ethnic lines and joining Serb-held areas to form a "Greater Serbia." In March 1994, Bosniaks and Croats reduced the number of warring factions from three to two by signing an agreement creating a joint Bosniak/Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 21 November 1995, in Dayton, Ohio, the warring parties initialed a peace agreement that brought to a halt three years of interethnic civil strife (the final agreement was signed in Paris on 14 December 1995). The Dayton Agreement retained Bosnia and Herzegovina's international boundaries and created a joint multi-ethnic and democratic government. This national government was charged with conducting foreign, diplomatic, and fiscal policy. Also recognized was a second tier of government comprised of two entities roughly equal in size
Geography Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea and Croatia
Geographic coordinates: 44 00 N, 18 00 E
Map references: Europe
Area: total
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than West Virginia
Land boundaries: total
Coastline: 20 km
Maritime claims: no data available
Climate: hot summers and cold winters; areas of high elevation have short, cool summers and long, severe winters; mild, rainy winters along coast
Terrain: mountains and valleys
Elevation extremes: lowest point
Natural resources: coal, iron ore, bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, chromite, cobalt, manganese, nickel, clay, gypsum, salt, sand, forests, hydropower
Land use: arable land
Irrigated land: 20 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: destructive earthquakes
Environment - current issues: air pollution from metallurgical plants; sites for disposing of urban waste are limited; water shortages and destruction of infrastructure because of the 1992-95 civil strife; deforestation
Environment - international agreements: party to
Geography - note: within Bosnia and Herzegovina's recognized borders, the country is divided into a joint Bosniak/Croat Federation (about 51% of the territory) and the Bosnian Serb-led Republika Srpska or RS (about 49% of the territory); the region called Herzegovina is contiguous to Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro (Montenegro), and traditionally has been settled by an ethnic Croat majority in the west and an ethnic Serb majority in the east
People Population: 4,025,476 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years
Median age: total
Population growth rate: 0.44% (2005 est.)
Birth rate: 12.49 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate: 8.44 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth
Infant mortality rate: total
Life expectancy at birth: total population
Total fertility rate: 1.71 children born/woman (2005 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 900 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 100 (2001 est.)
Nationality: noun
Ethnic groups: Serb 37.1%, Bosniak 48%, Croat 14.3%, other 0.6% (2000) note
Religions: Muslim 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholic 15%, other 14%
Languages: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
Literacy: definition
Government Country name: conventional long form
Government type: emerging federal democratic republic
Capital: Sarajevo
Administrative divisions: 2 first-order administrative divisions and 1 internationally supervised district* - Brcko district (Brcko Distrikt)*, the Bosniak/Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federacija Bosna i Hercegovina) and the Bosnian Serb-led Republika Srpska; note - Brcko district is in northeastern Bosnia and is an administrative unit under the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina; the district remains under international supervision
Independence: 1 March 1992 (from Yugoslavia; referendum for independence was completed 1 March 1992; independence was declared 3 March 1992)
National holiday: National Day, 25 November (1943)
Constitution: the Dayton Agreement, signed 14 December 1995, included a new constitution now in force; note - each of the entities also has its own constitution
Legal system: based on civil law system
Suffrage: 18 years of age, universal
Executive branch: chief of state
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliamentary Assembly or Skupstina consists of the National House of Representatives or Predstavnicki Dom (42 seats - elected by proportional representation, 28 seats allocated from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 14 seats from the Republika Srpska; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms); and the House of Peoples or Dom Naroda (15 seats - 5 Bosniak, 5 Croat, 5 Serb; members elected by the Bosniak/Croat Federation's House of Representatives and the Republika Srpska's National Assembly to serve four-year terms); note - Bosnia's election law specifies four-year terms for the state and first-order administrative division entity legislatures elections
Judicial branch: BiH Constitutional Court (consists of nine members
Political parties and leaders: Alliance of Independent Social Democrats or SNSD [Milorad DODIK]; Bosnian Party or BOSS [Mirnes AJANOVIC]; Civic Democratic Party or GDS [Ibrahim SPAHIC]; Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or HDZ-BH [Barisa COLAK]; Croat Christian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or HKDU [Mijo IVANIC-LONIC]; Croat Party of Rights or HSP [Zdravko HRISTIC]; Croat Peasants Party or HSS [Marko TADIC]; Democratic National Union or DNZ [Fikret ABDIC]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDS [Rasim KADIC]; New Croat Initiative or NHI [Kresimir ZUBAK]; Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina or SBiH [Safet HALILOVIC]; Party of Democratic Action or SDA [Sulejman TIHIC]; Party of Democratic Progress or PDP [Mladen IVANIC]; Serb Democratic Party or SDS [Dragan CAVIC - acting]; Serb Radical Party of the Republika Srpska or SRS-RS [Milanko MIHAJLICA]; Serb Radical Party-Dr. Vojislav Seselj or SRS-VS [Radislav KANJERIC]; Social Democratic Party of BIH or SDP [Zlatko LAGUMDZIJA]; Social Democratic Union or SDU [Miro LAZOVIC]; Socialist Party of Republika Srpska or SPRS [Petar DJOKIC]
Political pressure groups and leaders: NA
International organization participation: BIS, CE, CEI, EBRD, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM (guest), OAS (observer), OIC (observer), OPCW, OSCE, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO (observer)
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission
Flag description: a wide medium blue vertical band on the fly side with a yellow isosceles triangle abutting the band and the top of the flag; the remainder of the flag is medium blue with seven full five-pointed white stars and two half stars top and bottom along the hypotenuse of the triangle
Economy Economy - overview: Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked next to Macedonia as the poorest republic in the old Yugoslav federation. Although agriculture is almost all in private hands, farms are small and inefficient, and the republic traditionally is a net importer of food. Industry has been greatly overstaffed, one reflection of the socialist economic structure of Yugoslavia. TITO had pushed the development of military industries in the republic with the result that Bosnia hosted a number of Yugoslavia's defense plants. The interethnic warfare in Bosnia caused production to plummet by 80% from 1992 to 1995 and unemployment to soar. With an uneasy peace in place, output recovered in 1996-99 at high percentage rates from a low base; but output growth slowed in 2000-02. Part of the lag in output was made up in 2003-2004. National-level statistics are limited and do not capture the large share of black market activity. The konvertibilna marka (convertible mark or BAM)- the national currency introduced in 1998 - is now pegged to the euro, and the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina has dramatically increased its reserve holdings. Implementation of privatization, however, has been slow, and local entities only reluctantly support national-level institutions. Banking reform accelerated in 2001 as all the Communist-era payments bureaus were shut down. A sizeable current account deficit and high unemployment rate remain the two most serious economic problems. The country receives substantial amounts of reconstruction assistance and humanitarian aid from the international community but will have to prepare for an era of declining assistance.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $26.21 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 5% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,500 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture
Labor force: 1.026 million (2001)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture NA, industry NA, services NA
Unemployment rate: 44% officially; however, grey economy may reduce actual unemployment to near 20% (2004 est.)
Population below poverty line: 25% (2004 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.1% (2004 est.)
Budget: revenues
Agriculture - products: wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables; livestock
Industries: steel, coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, manganese, bauxite, vehicle assembly, textiles, tobacco products, wooden furniture, tank and aircraft assembly, domestic appliances, oil refining (2001)
Industrial production growth rate: 5.5% (2003 est.)
Electricity - production: 10.04 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel
Electricity - consumption: 8.318 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports: 3.288 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports: 2.271 billion kWh (2002)
Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption: 20,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: NA
Oil - imports: NA
Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: 300 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 300 million cu m (2001 est.)
Current account balance: $-2.1 billion (2004 est.)
Exports: $1.7 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities: metals, clothing, wood products
Exports - partners: Italy 22.3%, Croatia 21.1%, Germany 20.8%, Austria 7.4%, Slovenia 7.1%, Hungary 4.8% (2004)
Imports: $5.2 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs
Imports - partners: Croatia 23.8%, Slovenia 15.8%, Germany 14.8%, Italy 11.4%, Austria 6.6%, Hungary 6.1% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $2 billion (2004 est.)
Debt - external: $3 billion (2004 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $650 million (2001 est.)
Currency (code): marka (BAM)
Currency code: BAM
Exchange rates: marka per US dollar - 1.58 (2004), 1.73 (2003), 2.08 (2002), 2.19 (2001), 2.12 (2000) note
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Telephones - main lines in use: 938,000 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 1.05 million (2003)
Telephone system: general assessment
Radio broadcast stations: AM 8, FM 16, shortwave 1 (1998)
Radios: 940,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 33 (plus 277 repeaters) (September 1995)
Televisions: NA
Internet country code: .ba
Internet hosts: 6,994 (2004)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3 (2000)
Internet users: 100,000 (2002)
Transportation Railways: total
Highways: total
Waterways: Sava River (northern border) open to shipping but use limited because of no agreement with neighboring countries (2004)
Ports and harbors: Bosanska Gradiska, Bosanski Brod, Bosanski Samac, and Brcko (all inland waterway ports on the Sava), Orasje
Airports: 27 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total
Airports - with unpaved runways: total
Heliports: 5 (2004 est.)
Military Military branches: VF Army (the air and air defense forces are subordinate commands within the Army), VRS Army (the air and air defense forces are subordinate commands within the Army)
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory military service in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; 16 years of age in times of war; 18 years of age for Republika Srpska; 17 years of age for voluntary military service in the Federation and in the Republika Srpska; by law, military obligations cover all healthy men between the ages of 18 and 60, and all women between the ages of 18 and 55; service obligation is 4 months (July 2004)
Manpower available for military service: males age 18-49
Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49
Manpower reaching military service age annually: males
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $234.3 million (FY02)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 4.5% (FY02)
Transnational Issues Disputes - international: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro have delimited most of their boundary, but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute; discussions continue with Croatia on several small disputed sections of the boundary
Refugees and internally displaced persons: IDPs
Illicit drugs: minor transit point for marijuana and opiate trafficking routes to Western Europe; remains highly vulnerable to money-laundering activity given a primarily cash-based and unregulated economy, weak law enforcement and instances of corruption
Last updated: 20 October, 2005
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