Bosnia Today

Today, the country of Bosnia is a two-part confederation. The Republika Srpska (Serb Republic) has autonomy in the northern and eastern areas of the country, which were taken over by Serbs during the war. The central, western, and southern parts of the country contain mostly Bosnian Muslims and Croats, who are linked in a federation at the local level.

At the national level, each of the three national groups is represented equally. There are three sets of representatives and officials in most governmental organs. The fighting has stopped in Bosnia due to the presence of troops from many countries, including the United States and Canada, in the United Nations' Implementation Force (IFOR) for the Dayton Accord.

Damage to the economy and infrastructure from the war are great, and local elections are often still hindered by the obstructionist tactics of local nationalists. With the outbreak of fighting in nearby Kosovo in the spring of 1999, IFOR began to fear a recurrence of violence in Bosnia itself. (http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/balkans/bosnia/BNtopic6.html)

Specifics from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html

Population
4,613,414 (July 2009 est.)

Age Structure
0-14 years: 14.5% (male 344,760/female 323,303)
15-64 years: 70.7% (male 1,645,274/female 1,617,136)
65 years and over: 14.8% (male 279,781/female 403,160) (2009 est.)

Median Age
total: 39.8 years
male: 38.7 years
female: 41 years (2009 est.)

Population growth
0.339% (2009 est.)

Urbanization
urban population: 47% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 1.4% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Ethnic Groups
Bosniak 48%, Serb 37.1%, 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

Religion
Muslim 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholic 15%, other 14%

Area
total: 51,209.2 sq km
land: 51,197 sq km
water: 12.2 sq km
(slightly smaller than West Virginia )

Climate
hot summers and cold winters; areas of high elevation have short, cool summers and long, severe winters; mild, rainy winters along coast.

Natural Resources
coal, iron ore, bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, chromite, cobalt, manganese, nickel, clay, gypsum, salt, sand, forests, hydropower.