Bosnia and Herzegovina Tourism

OFFICIAL NAME:
Bosnia and Herzegovina

Geography
Area: 51,129 sq. km, slightly smaller than West Virginia.
Cities: Capital--Sarajevo (est. pop 387,876); Banja Luka (220,407); Mostar (208,904); Tuzla (118,500); Bihac (49,544).
Terrain: Mountains in the central and southern regions, plains along the Sava River in the north.
Climate: Hot summers and cold winters; areas of high elevation have short, cool summers and long, severe winters; mild, rainy winters in the southeast.

People
Nationalities: Bosniak (Muslim), Bosnian Croat, Bosnian Serb.
Population (July 2004 est.): 4,007,608 (note: all data dealing with population are subject to considerable error because of the dislocations caused by military action and ethnic cleansing).
Population growth rate (2004 est.): 0.45%.
Ethnic groups: Bosniak 48.3%, Serb 34.0%, Croat 15.4%, others 2.3%. (Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2002--Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Religions: Muslim (40%); Orthodox (31%); Catholic (15%); Protestant (4%); other (10%).
Languages: Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian (formerly "Serbo-Croatian").
Education: Mandatory 8-9 years of primary school (depending on region), 3-4 years in secondary school (vocational/liberal arts), and 3-5 years in universities (depending on major). In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are 1,089 primary schools with 350,000 students and 289 secondary schools with 162,000 students. The main public universities are in larger cities (Sarajevo, Mostar, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Bihac, Zenica) and there are a number of private institutions of higher education. Adult literacy rate--male 94.1%, female 78.0%.
Health: Infant mortality rate (2005 est.)--21.05 deaths/1,000 live births. Life expectancy (2005 est.)--male 70.09, female 75.8.
Work force (2001 est.): 1.026 million.

Government
Type: Parliamentary democracy.
Constitution: The Dayton Agreement, signed December 14, 1995, included a new constitution now in force.
Independence: April 1992 (from Yugoslavia).
Branches: Executive--Chairman of the Presidency and two other members of three-member rotating presidency (chief of state), Chairman of the Council of Ministers (head of government), Council of Ministers (cabinet). Legislative--bicameral parliamentary assembly, consisting of national House of Representatives and House of Peoples (parliament). Judicial--Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, both supervised by the Ministry of Justice.
Subdivisions: Two Entities: Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (divided into 10 cantons) and Republika Srpska. In accordance with Annex 2, Article V, of the Dayton Peace Agreement that left the unresolved status of Brcko subject to binding international arbitration, an Arbitration Tribunal was formed in mid-1996. On March 5, 1999, the Tribunal issued its Final Award. The Final Award established a special District for the entire pre-war Brcko Opstina, under the exclusive sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The territory of the District belongs simultaneously to both Entities, the Republika Srpska and the Federation, in condominium. Therefore, the territories of the two Entities overlap in the Brcko District. In accordance with the Final Award, the District is self-governing and has a single, unitary, multiethnic, democratic Government; a unified and multiethnic police force operating under a single command structure and an independent judiciary. The District Government exercises, throughout the pre-war Brcko Opstina, those powers previously exercised by the two Entities and the former three municipal governments. The Brcko district is demilitarized.

Economy
GDP (2006 IMF est., purchasing power parity): $33.75 billion. Nominal GDP (Central Bank and IMF figures): $11.51 billion. If non-observed economy is included, nominal GDP is estimated by the Central Bank to be $13.4 billion.
GDP real growth rate (2006 World Bank est.): 6.2%.
Income per capita (2006 IMF est., purchasing power parity): $8,370. Nominal GDP per capita: $2,995, or, including the estimated gray economy, $3,487.
Inflation rate (2006 est.): 7.4%. (This is a one-time effect of the introduction of a value-added tax.)

Natural Resources: Hydropower, coal, iron ore, bauxite, manganese, forests, copper, chromium, lead, zinc, cobalt, nickel, clay, gypsum, salt, sand, forests.
Agriculture: Products--wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables, livestock.
Industry: Steel, aluminum, minerals, vehicle assembly, textiles, tobacco products, wooden furniture, explosives, munitions, aircraft repair, domestic appliances, oil refining.
Trade (2006 Central Bank figure): Exports--$2.5 billion f.o.b.

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