Location:Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea and Croatia
Geographic coordinates:44 00 N, 18 00 E
Area: 51,129 sq 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
Population:3,964,388
Ethnic groups:Serb 31%, Bosniak 44%, Croat 17%, Yugoslav 5.5%, other 2.5% (1991)
Languages:Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian
Conventional short form: Bosnia and Herzegovina
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
Independence:1 March 1992
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 ofYugoslavia. TITO had pushed the development of military industries in the republic with the result that Bosnia hosted a large share of Yugoslavia's defense plants. 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 activity that occurs on the black market. Implementation of privatization, however, has been slow, and local entities only reluctantly support national-level institutions. 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.
Religions:Muslim 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholic 15%, Protestant 4%, other 10%
Natural resources:Coal, iron, bauxite, manganese, forests, copper, chromium, lead, zinc, hydropower
