World Countries Info 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, economic, and fiscal
policy. Also recognized was a second tier of government comprised of two
entities roughly equal in size: the Bosniak/Croat Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb-led Republika Srpska (RS). The Federation and
RS governments were charged with overseeing internal functions. In 1995-96, a
NATO-led international peacekeeping force (IFOR) of 60,000 troops served in
Bosnia to implement and monitor the military aspects of the agreement. IFOR
was succeeded by a smaller, NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) whose mission
is to deter renewed hostilities. SFOR remains in place although troop levels
were reduced to approximately 12,000 by the close of 2002.
Geography of Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
Location:
|
Southeastern Europe,
bordering the Adriatic Sea and Croatia |
|
Geographic coordinates:
|
44 00 N, 18 00 E |
|
Area:
|
total: 51,129 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 51,129 sq km |
|
Area - comparative:
|
slightly smaller than West
Virginia |
|
Land boundaries:
|
total: 1,459 km
border countries: Croatia 932 km, Serbia and Montenegro 527 km |
|
Coastline:
|
20 km |
|
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:
Adriatic Sea 0 m
highest point: Maglic 2,386 m |
|
Natural resources:
|
coal, iron, bauxite,
manganese, forests, copper, chromium, lead, zinc, hydropower |
|
Land use:
|
arable land: 9.8%
permanent crops: 2.94%
other: 87.26% (1998 est.) |
|
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 |
|
Environment - international agreements:
|
party to: Air
Pollution, Climate Change, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life
Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
|
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
|
Population of Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
Population:
|
4,007,608 (July 2004 est.) |
|
Age structure:
|
0-14 years: 18.9% (male 389,062;
female 368,721)
15-64 years: 70.6% (male 1,447,725; female 1,379,729)
65 years and over: 10.5% (male 180,801; female 241,570) (2004 est.) |
|
Median age:
|
total: 35.9 years
male: 35.5 years
female: 36.2 years (2004 est.) |
|
Population growth rate:
|
0.45% (2004 est.) |
|
Birth rate:
|
12.56 births/1,000 |
|
Death rate:
|
8.33 deaths/1,000 |
|
Net migration rate:
|
0.31 migrant(s)/1,000 |
|
Infant mortality rate:
|
total: 21.88 deaths/1,000 live
births
female: 19.08 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 24.5 deaths/1,000 live births |
|
Life expectancy at birth:
|
total population: 72.57 years
male: 69.82 years
female: 75.51 years (2004 est.) |
|
Total fertility rate:
|
1.71 children born/woman (2004 est.) |
|
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
|
less than 0.1% (2001 est.) |
|
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
|
100 (2001 est.) |
|
Nationality:
|
noun: Bosnian(s), Herzegovinian(s)
adjective: Bosnian, Herzegovinian |
|
Ethnic groups:
|
Serb 37.1%, Bosniak 48%, Croat 14.3%, other
0.6% (2000)
note: Bosniak has replaced Muslim as an ethnic term in part to avoid confusion with
the religious term Muslim - an adherent of Islam |
|
Religions:
|
Muslim 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholic
15%, other 14% |
|
Languages:
|
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian |
Government
|
Country name:
|
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Bosnia and Herzegovina
local long form: none
local short form: Bosna i Hercegovina |
|
Government type:
|
emerging federal democratic republic |
|
Capital:
|
Sarajevo |
|
Administrative divisions:
|
there are two first-order administrative
divisions and one 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:
|
16 years of age, if employed; 18 years of
age, universal |
|
Executive branch:
|
chief of state: Chairman of the
Presidency Sulejman TIHIC (chairman since 28 February 2004; presidency member since 5
October 2002 - Bosniak) other members of the three-member rotating (every eight months)
presidency: Dragan COVIC (since 5 October 2002 - Croat) and Borislav PARAVAC (since 10
April 2003 - Serb); note - Mirko SAROVIC resigned 2 April 2003
elections: the three members of the presidency (one Bosniak, one Croat, one Serb)
are elected by popular vote for a four-year term; the member with the most votes becomes
the chairman unless he or she was the incumbent chairman at the time of the election, but
the chairmanship rotates every eight months; election last held 5 October 2002 (next to be
held NA 2006); the chairman of the Council of Ministers is appointed by the presidency and
confirmed by the National House of Representatives
head of government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers Adnan TERZIC (since 20
December 2002),
cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the council chairman; approved by the
National House of Representatives
election results: percent of vote - Mirko SAROVIC with 35.5% of the Serb vote was
elected chairman of the collective presidency for the first eight months; Dragan COVIC
received 61.5% of the Croat vote; Sulejman TIHIC received 37% of the Bosniak vote
note: President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Niko LOZANCIC (since
27 January 2003); Vice Presidents Sahbaz DZIHANOVIC (since NA 2003) and Desnica
RADIVOJEVIC (since NA 2003); President of the Republika Srpska: Dragan CAVIC (since 28
November 2002) |
|
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
election results: National House of Representatives - percent of vote by
party/coalition - SDA 21.9%, SDS 14.0%, SBiH 10.5%, SDP 10.4%, SNSD 9.8%, HDZ 9.5%, PDP
4.6%, others 19.3%; seats by party/coalition - SDA 10, SDS 5, SBiH 6, SDP 4, SNSD 3, HDZ
5, PDP 2, others 7; House of Peoples - percent of vote by party/coalition - NA%; seats by
party/coalition - NA
elections: National House of Representatives - elections last held 5 October 2002
(next to be held in NA 2006); House of Peoples - last constituted NA January 2003 (next to
be constituted in 2007)
note: the Bosniak/Croat Federation has a bicameral legislature that consists of a
House of Representatives (98 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year
terms); elections last held 5 October 2002 (next to be held NA October 2006); percent of
vote by party - NA%; seats by party/coalition - SDA 32, HDZ-BiH 16, SDP 15, SBiH 15, other
20; and a House of Peoples (60 seats - 30 Bosniak, 30 Croat); last constituted December
2002; the Republika Srpska has a National Assembly (83 seats; members elected by popular
vote to serve four-year terms); elections last held 5 October 2002 (next to be held in the
fall of 2006); percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party/coalition - SDS 26, SNSD 19,
PDP 9, SDA 6, SRS 4, SPRS 3, DNZ 3, SBiH 4, SDP 3, others 6; as a result of the 2002
constitutional reform process, a 28-member Republika Srpska Council of Peoples (COP) was
established in the Republika Srpska National Assembly; each constituent nation and
"others" will have eight delegates |
|
Judicial branch:
|
BiH Constitutional Court (consists of nine
members: four members are selected by the Bosniak/Croat Federation's House of
Representatives, two members by the Republika Srpska's National Assembly, and three
non-Bosnian members by the president of the European Court of Human Rights); BiH State
Court (consists of nine judges and three divisions - Administrative, Appellate and
Criminal - having jurisdiction over cases related to state-level law and appellate
jurisdiction over cases initiated in the entities; note - a War Crimes Chamber may be
added at a future date)
note: the entities each have a Supreme Court; each entity also has a number of
lower courts; there are 10 cantonal courts in the Federation, plus a number of municipal
courts; the Republika Srpska has five municipal courts |
|
Political parties and leaders:
|
Alliance of Independent Social Democrats or
SNSD [Milorad DODIK]; Bosnian Party or BOSS [Mirnes AJANOVIC]; Civic Democratic Party or
GDS [Ilija SIMIC]; Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or HDZ [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
[Ilija SIMIC]; 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]; Pro-European People's Party or PROENS
[Jadranko PRLIC]; Serb Democratic Party or SDS [Dragan KALINIC]; Serb Radical Party of the
Republika Srpska or SRS-RS [Radislav KANJERIC]; Social Democratic Party of BIH or SDP
[Zlatko LAGUMDZIJA]; Socialist Party of Republika Srpska or SPRS [Petar DJOKIC] |
Economy
Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked next to The Former Yugoslav Republic of 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. GDP remains far below the 1990 level. Economic data are of limited use
because, although both entities issue figures, national-level statistics are limited.
Moreover, official data 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. 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 - $24.39 billion
(2003 est.) |
|
GDP - real growth rate:
|
3.8% (2003 est.) |
|
GDP - per capita:
|
purchasing power parity - $6,100 (2003
est.) |
|
GDP - composition by sector:
|
agriculture: 13%
industry: 40.9%
services: 46.1% (2001 est.) |
|
Population below poverty line:
|
NA% (2003 est.) |
|
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
|
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
|
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
|
3.5% (2002 est.) |
|
Labor force:
|
1.026 million (2001) |
|
Labor force - by occupation:
|
agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
|
Unemployment rate:
|
40% (2002 est.) |
|
Budget:
|
revenues: $1.9 billion
expenditures: $2.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.) |
|
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:
|
9.979 billion kWh (2001) |
|
Electricity - production by source:
|
fossil fuel: 53.5%
hydro: 46.5%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0% |
|
Electricity - consumption:
|
8.116 billion kWh (2001) |
|
Electricity - exports:
|
2.569 billion kWh (2001) |
|
Electricity - imports:
|
1.405 billion kWh (2001) |
|
Oil - production:
|
0 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
|
Oil - consumption:
|
20,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
|
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.) |
|
Agriculture - products:
|
wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables; livestock |
|
Exports:
|
$1.28 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
|
Exports - commodities:
|
metals, clothing, wood products |
|
Exports - partners:
|
Italy 31.4%, Croatia 17.8%, Germany 13%,
Austria 10%, Slovenia 7.1%, Greece 4.2% (2002) |
|
Imports:
|
$4.7 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
|
Imports - commodities:
|
machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels,
foodstuffs |
|
Imports - partners:
|
Croatia 22.8%, Slovenia 15.3%, Germany
13.7%, Italy 12.6%, Hungary 7.6%, Austria 7.4% (2002) |
|
Debt - external:
|
$2.8 billion (2001) |
|
Economic aid - recipient:
|
$650 million (2001 est.) |
|
Currency:
|
marka (BAM) |
|
Currency code:
|
BAM |
|
Exchange rates:
|
marka per US dollar - 1.73 (2003), 1.73
(2002), 2.19 (2001), 2.12 (2000), 1.84 (1999) |
SOURCES: The CIA World Factbook, U.S. Department of State, Area Handbook of the US Library of Congress
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