Bosnia population shrank 13 pct in 2 decades

[November 05, 2013]  SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) -- Preliminary census results show that Bosnia's population shrank by half a million people over the country's past two turbulent decades.

The head of the Statistic Agency, Zdenko Milinovic, said Tuesday that authorities registered 3,791,622 in the country during its census last month. In the last census, in 1991, Bosnia had 4.37 million residents.

The war that broke out between its three ethnic groups a year later took over 100,000 lives and turned almost two million people into refugees. Many returned, but nobody knew how many people live in Bosnia after the war's end in 1995.

Data showing how wartime ethnic expulsions and killings have changed the country's ethnic composition are expected at the beginning of next year.

[Associated Press]

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