Bosnia-Herzegovina

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Bosnia-Herzegovina

General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology


GENERAL INFORMATION

National name Bosna i Hercegovina/Bosnia-Herzegovina Area 51,129 sq km/19,740 sq mi Capital Sarajevo Language Serbian, Croat, Bosnian Religion 40% Muslim, 31% Serbian Orthodox, 15% Roman Catholic Time difference GMT +1 Major holidays 1–2 January, 1 March, 1–2 May, 27 July, 25 November


GEOGRAPHY

Major towns/cities Banja Luka, Mostar, Prijedor, Tuzla, Zenica, Bihac, Gorazde Physical features barren, mountainous country, part of the Dinaric Alps; limestone gorges; 20 km/12 mi of coastline with no harbour Airports one international airport and three smaller civil airports; total passengers carried: 73,000 (2003 est) Railways total length: 1,021 km/634 mi; total passenger journeys: 1.1 million (2003) Roads total road network: 21,846 km/13,575 mi, of which 52.3% paved (1999 est); passenger cars: 23 per 1,000 people (1996 est)


GOVERNMENT

Head of state Nebojaa Radmanovic, Zeljko Komaic and Haris Silajdzic from 2006 Head of government Nikola `piric from 2007 Political system emergent democracy Political executive limited presidency Administrative divisions ten cantons Political parties Party of Democratic Action (PDA), Muslim-oriented; Serbian Renaissance Movement (SPO), Serbian nationalist; Croatian Christian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (CDU), Croatian nationalist; League of Communists (LC) and Socialist Alliance (SA), left wing Death penalty abolished in 2001 Armed forces 11,900 (2006 est) Defence spend (% GDP) 1.9 (2005 est) Health spend (% GDP) 4.8 (2004)


ECONOMY

Currency konvertable mark GDP (US$) 9.4 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 5.5 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 9.5 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 7,790 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 6% (2006 est) Unemployment 40% (2005 est) Labour force 11.3% agriculture, 47.5% industry, 41.2% services (1990) Foreign debt (US$) 3.4 billion (2005 est) Major trading partners Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Germany, Italy, Slovenia Resources copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, coal, bauxite, manganese Industries iron and crude steel, armaments, cement, textiles, vehicle assembly, wood products, oil refining, electrical appliances, cigarettes; industrial infrastructure virtually destroyed by war Exports coal, base metals, wood and wood products, chemicals. Principal market: Croatia 20.5% (2005) Imports machinery, foodstuffs, basic manufactured goods, mineral products, chemicals. Principal source: Croatia 16.9% (2005) Arable land 19.5% (2002 est) Agricultural products maize, wheat, potatoes, vegetables, rice, tobacco, fruit, olives, grapes; livestock rearing (sheep and cattle); timber reserves


POPULATION

Population 3,912,200 (2006 est) Population growth rate 0.1% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 77 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 45 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 17%, 15–59 64%, 60+ 19% (2005 est) Ethnic groups 40% ethnic Muslim, 38% Serb, 22% Croat. Croats are most thickly settled in southwest Bosnia and western Herzegovina, Serbs in eastern and western Bosnia. Since the start of the civil war in 1992 many Croats and Muslims have fled as refugees to neighbouring states Life expectancy 72 (men); 78 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 15 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 8 Literacy rate 98% (men); 91% (women) (2004 est)


HEALTH

Physicians (per 10,000 people) 13.4 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 3.1 (2003 est) HIV infection (% of population aged 15–49) <0.1 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 100 (urban); 96 (rural) (2002)


COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Landline telephones (per 100 people) 24.8 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 26.4 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 245 (1999) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 112 (1999) Internet users (per 100 people) 20.6 (2005 est)


CHRONOLOGY

1st century AD Part of Roman province of Illyricum. 395 On division of Roman Empire, stayed in west, along with Croatia and Slovenia, while Serbia to the east became part of the Byzantine Empire. 7th century Settled by Slav tribes. 12–15th centuries Independent state. 1463 and 1482 Bosnia and Herzegovina, in south, successively conquered by Ottoman Turks; many Slavs were converted to Sunni Islam. 1878 Became Austrian protectorate, following Bosnian revolt against Turkish rule in 1875–76. 1908 Annexed by Austrian Habsburgs in wake of Turkish Revolution. 1914 Habsburg heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated in Sarajevo by Bosnian-Serb extremist, precipitating World War I. 1918 On collapse of Habsburg Empire, region became part of Serb-dominated ‘Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes’, known as Yugoslavia from 1929. 1941 Occupied by Nazi Germany and became ‘Greater Croatia’ fascist puppet state and scene of fierce fighting. 1943–44 Liberated by communist Partisans, led by Marshal Tito. 1945 Became constituent republic within Yugoslav Socialist Federation. 1980 Upsurge in Islamic nationalism. 1990 Ethnic violence erupted between Muslims and Serbs. Communists defeated in multiparty elections; coalition formed by Serb, Muslim, and Croatian parties. 1991 Serb–Croat civil war in Croatia spread unrest into Bosnia. Fears that Serbia planned to annex Serb-dominated parts of republic led to declaration of sovereignty by parliament. Serbs within Bosnia established autonomous enclaves. 1992 Bosnia admitted into United Nations (UN). Violent civil war broke out, as independent ‘Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina’, comprising parts of the east and west, proclaimed by Bosnian-Serb militia leader Radovan Karadzic, with Serbian backing. UN forces drafted into Sarajevo to break Serb siege of city; Bosnian Serbs accused of ‘ethnic cleansing’, particularly of Muslims. 1993 UN–EC peace plan failed. Six UN ‘safe areas’ created, intended as havens for Muslim civilians. Croat–Serb partition plan rejected by Muslims. 1994 Serb siege of Sarajevo lifted after UN–NATO ultimatum and Russian diplomatic intervention. Croat–Muslim federation formed. 1995 Hostilities resumed. US-sponsored peace accord, providing for two sovereign states (a Muslim–Croat federation and a Bosnian Serb Republic, the Republika Srpska) as well as a central legislature (House of Representatives, House of Peoples, and three-person presidency), agreed at Dayton, Ohio; 60,000-strong NATO peacekeeping force deployed. 1996 International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia began in the Hague and arms-control accord was signed. Full diplomatic relations established between Bosnia and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 1997 Serb part of Bosnia signed customs agreement with Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 1998 First convictions at the Hague tribunal for war crimes during 1992–95 hostilities. 2000 Northeastern town of Brcko (the only territorial dispute outstanding from Dayton peace accord) established as self-governing neutral district, to be ruled by elected alliance. 2001 Bosnian Serb general found guilty of genocide for role in notorious massacre of Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995. 2002 Nationalists won elections for three-member state presidency, central House of Representatives, Muslim–Croat federation parliament, and Serb Republic parliament, as voting split along ethnic lines. 2004 NATO handed over peacekeeping duties in Bosnia to European Union-led force. 2006 Presidential and parliamentary elections again reflected nationalist and ethnic divisions. 2007 International Court of Justice ruled that 1995 Srebrenica massacre constituted genocide, but cleared Serbia of direct responsibility.


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