In 1991, in the last census taken in Yugoslavia, Bosnia had a population of 4,365,000. In 1998, after Bosnia’s civil war, which left hundreds of thousands dead and forced many thousands of others to flee, the United States government around that Bosnia’s population was 3,365,000. Casualty rates during the war were around equal for the ethnic Muslims and Serbs; the casualty rate for the ethnic Croats was much lower. Of the Bosnians who fled, most went to the Germany, Croatia, and Sweden.

The nation is home to members of numerous ethnic groups. The three largest are the Bosniacs, Serbs, and Croats, who constitute about 2/5, 1/3, and 1/5, respectively, of the population. Physically the three groups are indistinguishable; culturally the major difference between them is that of religious origin and affiliation. Serbs belong to the Serbian Orthodox tradition, Croats to the Roman Catholic, and Bosniacs to the Islamic.