More than 100,000 people have renounced Bosnian and Herzegovinian citizenship over the past quarter of a century, according to official data held by the authorities of that country. According to unified records maintained by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1999, a total of 101,413 people have voluntarily renounced their citizenship, as reported today by Banja Luka's Nezavisne novine.

With the payment of a prescribed fee equivalent to 400 euros, the process of renouncing Bosnian citizenship is simple, as applicants are not required to provide any explanation other than confirming that they already have or are in the process of acquiring citizenship of another country.

The highest number of Bosnian citizenships were lost in 2003.

If the other country involved is one of the former Yugoslav states, then the fee for renouncing Bosnian citizenship is 100 euros. The highest number of citizens lost their Bosnian and Herzegovinian citizenship in 2003, when over 9,000 people gave up their passports. In 2024, 1,441 people have applied to renounce Bosnian citizenship.

However, demography experts warn that the actual population loss that Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing is significantly higher, and the data on those renouncing citizenship does not reflect the true situation.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina has lost more than a million residents in 25 years.”

Demographer Aleksandar Cavic estimated that Bosnia and Herzegovina has, in fact, lost more than a million residents over the past 25 years. The last population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina was conducted back in 2013, and due to political disagreements, there are no indications as to when a new census might be organized.

According to that census, Bosnia and Herzegovina had just under 3.8 million inhabitants, and the most pessimistic estimates suggest that today fewer than two million people live in the country, as stated by the president of the HDZ BiH, Dragan Covic, in October of last year.