Demographic Development of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Period Till 1991 and the Modern Demographic Problems

The earliest inhabitants of the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina where the Illyrians, and after them came the Celts, Romans, Goths and Avars. Slavs arrived in the 6th century and established the first state in the region. Bosnia and Herzegovina, in its turbulent history, was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian, and then it was a part of the Kingdom of SHS and a part of the Yugoslavia. Population development and population trends and population structure can be monitored from the first census in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was conducted during the reign of Ottoman Empire. Beginning with the first official census in 1851 the development of the population in different lists can be traced till 1991 when the last census was conducted. At the end of the 20th century the entire Balkan region has gone through a difficult war period that followed the political, economic and demographic changes that brought certain consequences. After the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995) the census was not executed. The war has claimed its victims and there were present war migration. All today's data regarding the numbers of the population are based on estimates by the Bureau of Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Serbia. Besides the lack of the census, there is the issue of negative natural increase and negative net migration. This paper discusses the development and movement of the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the first to the last official census of the population as well as recognition of modern demographic problems. The task is, using a variety of data sources and data display techniques, to present the development of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the very best way, using modern geographic and cartographic methods.