The last census in Bosnia and Herzegovina was in 2013, but if one was organised today, it would likely show “there are about a million fewer of us”, Aleksandar Majic, from the Center for Demographic Research, told N1.

Majic said that, among researchers, even the 2013 number of about 3.5 million inhabitants is questionable.

“In essence, we have evidence, the number of births and deaths has been monitored in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1996, and based on that we can conclude that the natural birth rate is negative and that more and more people are dying than being born,” said Majic.

He explained that a very important component of demographic growth is the migration balance.

“We basically don't know how many people leave here and how many people we lose every day in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It’s safe to assume that we have a decreasing number of inhabitants day by day, but we cannot say for sure,” he said.

Majic said that, since 2002, a negative birth rate has been reen registered in BiH’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity, while this negative trend was recorded for the first time in the other semi-autonomous entity, the Federation (FBiH) in 2013. However, precise data at the moment is lacking, he said.

“Someone is not interested in revealing how many of us there are. Estimates show that there are about a million fewer of us, compared to the previous census, but it has not been proven. However, it is obvious that it does not suit someone to see the actual number of inhabitants”, Majic concluded.