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 Peace Accords retained Bosnia and Herzegovina's international boundaries and created a multi-ethnic and democratic government charged with conducting foreign diplomatic and fiscal policy. Also recognized was a second tier of government composed of two entities roughly equal in size: the Bosniak/Bosnian Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb-led Republika Srpska (RS). The Federation and RS governments were charged with overseeing most government functions. Additionally the Dayton Accords established the Office of the High Representative (OHR) to oversee the implementation of the civilian aspects of the agreement. The Peace Implementation Council (PIC) at its conference in Bonn in 1997 also gave the High Representative the authority to impose legislation and remove officials the so-called 'Bonn Powers.' An original NATO-led international peacekeeping force (IFOR) of 60,000 troops assembled in 1995 was succeeded over time by a smaller NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR). In 2004 European Union peacekeeping troops (EUFOR) replaced SFOR. Currently EUFOR deploys around 1000 troops in theater in a policing capacity.

Geographic coordinates: 44 00 N 18 00 E

Area
Rank: 129
Comparative: slightly smaller than West Virginia

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

Natural resources: coal iron ore bauxite copper lead zinc chromite cobalt manganese nickel clay gypsum salt sand timber hydropower

Irrigated land: 30 km² (2003)

Total renewable water resources: 37.5 km³ (2003)

Natural hazards: destructive earthquakes

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 Montenegro and traditionally has been settled by an ethnic Croat majority in the west and an ethnic Serb majority in the east

Population: 3,879,296 (July 2012 est.)
Rank: 128
Growth rate: -0.09% (2012 est.)
Growth rate rank: 200
Below poverty line: 18.6% (2007 est.)

Ethnic groups: Bosniak 48% Serb 37.1% Croat 14.3% other 0.6% (2000)

Languages: Bosnian (official) Croatian (official) Serbian

Religions: Muslim 40% Orthodox 31% Roman Catholic 15% other 14%

Population growth rate: -0.09% (2012 est.)
Rank: 200

Birth rate: 8.9 births/1000 population (2012 est.)
Rank: 210

Death rate: 9.4 deaths/1000 population (July 2012 est.)
Rank: 58

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (2012 est.)
Rank: 77

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

Infant mortality rate
Rank: 171

Life expectancy at birth
Rank: 45

Total fertility rate: 1.24 children born/woman (2012 est.)
Rank: 218

Physicians density: 1.4179 physicians/1000 population (2005)

Hospital bed density: 3.04 beds/1000 population (2005)

Sanitation facility access:
Unimproved:

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2007 est.)
Adult prevalence rate rank: 113
People living with hivaids: 900 (2007 est.)
People living with hivaids rank: 146
Deaths: 100 (2001 est.)
Deaths rank: 145

Obesity adult prevalence rate: 21.7% (2002)
Rank: 20

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 1.6% (2006)
Rank: 115

Education expenditures: NA

Government type: emerging federal democratic republic

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 Bosne i Hercegovine) and the Bosnian Serb-led Republika Srpska; note - Brcko District is in northeastern Bosnia and is a self-governing administrative unit under the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina and formally held in condominium between the two entities

Independence: 1 March 1992 (from Yugoslavia; referendum for independence completed on 1 March 1992; independence declared on 3 March 1992)

National holiday: National Day 25 November (1943)

Constitution: the Dayton Peace Accords signed 14 December 1995 in Paris included a constitution; note - each of the entities and cantons also has its own constitution

Legal system: civil law system; Constitutional Court review of legislative acts

International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age 16 if employed; universal

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliamentary Assembly or Skupstina consists of the House of Peoples or Dom Naroda (15 seats 5 Bosniak 5 Croat 5 Serb; members designated by the Bosniak/Croat Federation's House of Peoples and the Republika Srpska's National Assembly to serve four-year terms); and the state-level House of Representatives or Predstavnicki Dom (42 seats 28 seats allocated for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 14 seats for the Republika Srpska; members elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to serve four-year terms); note - Bosnia's election law specifies four-year terms for the state and first-order administrative division entity legislatures

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 44 national judges and seven international judges and has three divisions - Administrative Appellate and Criminal - having jurisdiction over cases related to state-level law and cases initiated in the entities that question BiH's sovereignty political independence or national security or with economic crimes that have serious repercussions to BiH's economy beyond that of an entity or Brcko District); a War Crimes Chamber opened in March 2005

Political parties and leaders: Alliance for a Better Future of BiH or SBB-BiH [Fahrudin RADONCIC]; Alliance of Independent Social Democrats or SNSD [Milorad DODIK]; Bosnian Party or BOSS [Mirnes AJANOVIC]; Bosnian Patriotic Party or BPS [Sefer HALILOVIC]; Civic Democratic Party or GDS [Ibrahim SPAHIC]; Croat Party of Rights or HSP [Zvonko JURISIC]; Croat Peasants' Party-New Croat Initiative or HSS-NHI [Ante COLAK]; Croatian Christian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or HKDU [Ivan MUSA]; Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or HDZ-BiH [Dragan COVIC]; Croatian Democratic Union 1990 or HDZ-1990 [Bozo LJUBIC]; Croatian Peoples Union [Milenko BRKIC]; Democratic National Union or DNZ [Rifat DOLIC]; Democratic Party or DP [Dragan CAVIC]; Democratic Peoples' Alliance or DNS [Marko PAVIC]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDS [Bojan Zec FILIPOVIC]; Nasa Stranka or NS [Denis GRATZ]; New Socialist Party or NSP [Zdravko KRSMANOVIC]; Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina or SBiH [Amer JERLAGIC]; Party of Democratic Action or SDA [Sulejman TIHIC]; Party of Democratic Progress or PDP [Mladen IVANIC]; 'People's' Party of Work for Progress or NSRzB [Mladen IVANKOVIC-LIJANOVIC]; Serb Democratic Party or SDS [Mladen BOSIC]; Serb Radical Party of the Republika Srpska or SRS-RS [Milanko MIHAJLICA]; Serb Radical Party-Dr. Vojislav Seselj or SRS-VS [Mirko BLAGOJEVIC]; Social Democratic Party of BiH or SDP BiH [Zlatko LAGUMDZIJA]; Social Democratic Union or SDU [Nermin PECANAC]; Socialist Party of Republika Srpska or SPRS [Petar DJOKIC]

International organization participation: BIS CD CE CEI EAPC EBRD FAO G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC (NGOs) ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS ILO IMF IMO IMSO Interpol IOC IOM IPU ISO ITSO ITU ITUC (NGOs) MIGA MONUSCO NAM (observer) OAS (observer) OIC (observer) OIF (observer) OPCW OSCE PFP SELEC UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UNWTO UPU WCO WHO WIPO WMO WTO (observer)

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; the triangle approximates the shape of the country and its three points stand for the constituent peoples - Bosniaks Croats and Serbs; the stars represent Europe and are meant to be continuous (thus the half stars at top and bottom); the colors (white blue and yellow) are often associated with neutrality and peace and traditionally are linked with Bosnia

National symbols: golden lily

Economy overview: Bosnia has a transitional economy with limited market reforms. The economy relies heavily on the export of metals as well as on remittances and foreign aid. A highly decentralized government hampers economic policy coordination and reform while excessive bureaucracy and a segmented market discourage foreign investment. The interethnic warfare in Bosnia and Herzegovina 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 but slowed in 2000-02 and picked up again during 2003-08 when GDP growth exceeded 5% per year. However the country experienced a decline in GDP of nearly 3% in 2009 reflecting local effects of the global economic crisis. GDP has stagnated since then. Foreign banks primarily from Austria and Italy now control most of the banking sector. The konvertibilna marka (convertible mark or BAM) - the national currency introduced in 1998 - is pegged to the euro and confidence in the currency and the banking sector has increased. Bosnia's private sector is growing but foreign investment has dropped off sharply since 2007. Government spending at roughly 50% of GDP remains high because of redundant government offices at the state entity and municipal level. Privatization of state enterprises has been slow particularly in the Federation where political division between ethnically-based political parties makes agreement on economic policy more difficult. High unemployment remains the most serious macroeconomic problem. Successful implementation of a value-added tax in 2006 provided a predictable source of revenue for the government and helped rein in gray-market activity. National-level statistics have also improved over time but a large share of economic activity remains unofficial and unrecorded. Bosnia and Herzegovina became a full member of the Central European Free Trade Agreement in September 2007. Bosnia and Herzegovina's top economic priorities are: acceleration of integration into the EU; strengthening the fiscal system; public administration reform; World Trade Organization (WTO) membership; and securing economic growth by fostering a dynamic competitive private sector. In 2009 Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted an International Monetary Fund (IMF) stand-by arrangement necessitated by sharply increased social spending and a fiscal crisis exacerbated by the global economic downturn. Disbursement of IMF aid was suspended in 2011 after a parliamentary deadlock left Bosnia without a state-level government for over a year. The IMF concluded a new stand-by arrangement with Bosnia in October 2012 with the first tranches paid in November and December 2012.

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Rank: 111

Real gdp growth rate:
Rank: 186

Real gdp per capita:
Rank: 126

Agriculture products: wheat corn fruits vegetables; livestock

Industrial production growth rate: 3.1% (2011 est.)
Rank: 97

Labor force: 2.6 million (2010 est.)
Rank: 109

Unemployment rate: 43.1% (2010 est.)
Rank: 189

Population below poverty line: 18.6% (2007 est.)

Distribution of family income gini index: 36.2 (2007)
Rank: 83

Budget
Surplus or deficit: -3.8% of GDP (2012 est.)
Surplus or deficit rank: 120

Taxes and other revenues: 47.7% of GDP (2012 est.)
Rank: 29

Public debt: 40.6% of GDP (2011 est.)
Rank: 80

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 3.7% (2011 est.)
Rank: 36

Commercial bank prime lending rate: 7.14% (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 127

Stock of narrow money: $4.092 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 107

Stock of broad money: $9.538 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 109

Stock of domestic credit: $10.13 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 96

Market value of publicly traded shares: $N/A

Current account balance: -$1.583 billion (2011 est.)
Rank: 122

Exports: $6.03 billion (2011 est.)
Rank: 111
Commodities: metals clothing wood products
Partners: Slovenia 18.1% Croatia 16.4% Italy 14.7% Germany 13.8% Austria 12.2% (2011)

Imports: $11.06 billion (2011 est.)
Rank: 96
Commodities: machinery and equipment chemicals fuels foodstuffs
Partners: Croatia 21.6% Germany 13% Slovenia 12.9% Italy 9.5% Russia 7.5% Austria 6.1% Hungary 4.7% (2011)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $4.15 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 98

Debt external: $8.764 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 98

Exchange rates:

Electricity
Production: 15.04 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Production rank: 82
Consumption: 10.17 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Consumption rank: 88
Exports: 5.877 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Exports rank: 28
Imports: 2.887 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Imports rank: 44
Installed generating capacity: 4.341 million kW (2009 est.)
Installed generating capacity rank: 77
Generation sources fossil fuels: 44.5% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels rank: 165
Generation sources nuclear: 0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources nuclear rank: 51
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 55.5% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity rank: 37
Generation sources other renewable sources: 0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources rank: 111

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 0 bbl/day (2011 est.)
Petroleum total petroleum production rank: 112
Crude oil exports: 0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
Crude oil exports rank: 85
Crude oil imports: 4,274 bbl/day (2009 est.)
Crude oil imports rank: 80
Crude oil proven reserves: 0 bbl (1 January 2012 est.)
Crude oil proven reserves rank: 110

Refined petroleum
Products production: 3,304 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Products production rank: 111
Products consumption: 27,540 bbl/day (2011 est.)
Products consumption rank: 120
Products exports: 0 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Products exports rank: 155
Products imports: 23,950 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Products imports rank: 96

Natural gas
Production: 0 m³ (2010 est.)
Production rank: 104
Consumption: 210 million m³ (2010 est.)
Consumption rank: 102
Exports: 0 m³ (2010 est.)
Exports rank: 162
Imports: 390 million m³ (2010 est.)
Imports rank: 69
Proven reserves: 0 m³ (1 January 2012 est.)
Proven reserves rank: 115

Carbon dioxide emissions
From consumption of energy: 20.14 million Mt (2010 est.)
From consumption of energy rank: 83

Telephones
Main lines in use: 955,900 (2011)
Main lines in use rank: 81
Mobile cellular: 3.171 million (2011)
Mobile cellular rank: 124

Broadcast media: 3 public TV broadcasters: Radio and TV of Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation TV (operating 2 networks) and Republika Srpska Radio-TV; a local commercial network of 5 TV stations; 3 private near-national TV stations and dozens of small independent TV stations broadcasting; 3 large public radio broadcasters and many private radio stations (2010)

Internet
Country code: .ba
Hosts: 155,252 (2012)
Hosts rank: 77
Users: 1.422 million (2009)
Users rank: 85

Military expenditures: 1.4% of GDP (2005 est.)
Rank: 103

Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service; conscription abolished in January 2006; 4-month service obligation; mandatory retirement at age 35 or after 15 years of service (2010)

Airports: 25 (2012)
Rank: 129

Heliports: 6 (2012)

Pipelines: gas 147 km; oil 9 km

Railways
Rank: 107

Roadways
Rank: 102

Waterways: (Sava River on northern border; open to shipping but use limited) (2011)

Ports and terminals: Bosanska Gradiska Bosanski Brod Bosanski Samac and Brcko (all inland waterway ports on the Sava River) Orasje

Disputes international: Serbia delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and Herzegovina but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute

Illicit drugs: increasingly a transit point for heroin being trafficked to Western Europe; minor transit point for marijuana; remains highly vulnerable to money-laundering activity given a primarily cash-based and unregulated economy weak law enfor