Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Also known as:
  • Kantoni Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine  (Bosnian)
    Кантони Федерације Босне и Херцеговине  (Serbian)
    Županije Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine  (Croatian)
Bosnia and Herzegovina, administrative divisions - Nmbrs (cantons) - colored.svg
CategoryFederal unit
LocationFederation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Number10 Cantons
Populations25,336 (Bosnian-Podrinje Canton Goražde) – 477,278 (Tuzla)
Areas325 km2 (125.5 sq mi) (Posavina) – 4,934 km2 (1,905.1 sq mi) (Canton 10)
Government
  • Canton government
Subdivisions
  • Municipality

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the two political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, consists of ten units called cantons. The cantons were established by the Law on Federal Units (Cantons) on 12 June 1996.

Cantons[]

The cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina were created by the Law on Federal Units (Cantons) of 1996, which was based on the Bosniak-Croat Washington Agreement. The cantons consist of municipalities. A canton has its own government headed by a prime minister. The prime minister has his own cabinet, and is assisted in his duties by various cantonal ministries, agencies, and cantonal services. Five of the cantons (Una-Sana, Tuzla, Zenica-Doboj, Bosnian-Podrinje, and Sarajevo) have a Bosniak majority, three (Posavina, West Herzegovina and Canton 10) have a Bosnian Croat majority, while two of them (Central Bosnia and Herzegovina-Neretva) are "ethnically mixed", meaning neither ethnic group has a majority and there are special legislative procedures for the protection of their political interests. The most populous canton is Tuzla Canton, while Canton 10 is the largest by area.

The term županija (Croatian for "county") has been declared unconstitutional, but is still widely used by Bosnian Croat officials and in cantonal constitutions. The Croatian-language version of the Constitution of the Federation, however, uses the constitutional term kanton.

Coat of
arms 		No. Abbr English name Bosnian name Croatian name Center Population
(2013 census) 		Bosniaks

(2013)

Croats

(2013)

Serbs

(2013)

Area (km2) Density Municipalities
Coat of arms of Una-Sana.svg 1 USK
USŽ 		Una-Sana Canton Unsko-sanski kanton Unsko-sanska županija Bihać 299,343 90.02% 1.85% 3.09% 4,125.0 69.8 8
Coat of arms of Posavina.svg 2 PK
ŽP 		Posavina Canton Posavski kanton Županija Posavska Orašje 48,089 19.00% 77.32% 1.91% 324.6 124.8 3
Coat of arms of Tuzla Canton.svg 3 TK
TŽ 		Tuzla Canton Tuzlanski kanton Tuzlanska županija Tuzla 477,278 88.16% 5.30% 1.58% 2,649.0 187.9 13
Coat of arms of Zenica-Doboj.svg 4 ZDK
ZDŽ 		Zenica-Doboj Canton Zeničko-dobojski kanton Zeničko-dobojska županija Zenica 385,067 82.17% 12.02% 1.52% 3,334.3 119.9 12
Coat of arms of Bosnian Podrinje.svg 5 BPK
BPŽ 		Bosnian-Podrinje Canton Goražde Bosansko-podrinjski kanton Goražde Bosansko-podrinjska županija Goražde Goražde 25,336 94.01% 0.10% 3.72% 504.6 65.8 3
Coat of arms of Central Bosnia.svg 6 SBK
ŽSB 		Central Bosnia Canton Srednjobosanski kanton Županija Središnja Bosna Travnik 273,149 57.58% 38.33% 1.19% 3,189 80.2 12
Coat of arms of Herzegovina-Neretva.svg 7 HNK
HNŽ 		Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Hercegovačko-neretvanski kanton Hercegovačko-neretvanska županija Mostar 236,278 41.44% 53.29% 2.90% 4,401 51.5 9
- 8 ZHK
ŽZH 		West Herzegovina Canton Zapadnohercegovački kanton Županija Zapadnohercegovačka Široki Brijeg 97,893 1.81% 96.82% 0.26% 1,362.2 60.1 4
Coat of arms of Sarajevo Canton.svg 9 KS
SŽ 		Sarajevo Canton Kanton Sarajevo Sarajevska županija Sarajevo 438,443 83.8% 4.2% 3.2% 1,276.9 329.9 9
- 10 K10/HBK
HBŽ 		Canton 10 Kanton 10 Hercegbosanska županija Livno 90,727 9.55% 76.79% 12.96% 4,934.9 16.5 6
Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg FBiH Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine Sarajevo 2,371,603 70.4% 22.44% 2.41% 26,110.0 89.1 79
Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Possible reorganization[]

There are a number of propositions for the reorganization of the Federation, ranging from decreasing the number of cantons, establishing new federal units on the state level, to the exchange of jurisdiction between the cantons and the Federation.[1] However, this question requires a high level of political agreement, especially between the Bosniak and Croat political parties, since it would necessarily include changing the federal constitution. For a constitutional law to pass, it has to obtain the support of the majority of the representatives and delegates in both chambers of the Federal parliament, including the majority of Croat and Bosniak delegates in the House of Peoples.

See also[]

Notes and references[]

Notes
References
  1. ^ Osmović, M. (19 April 2012). "Sprema se ukidanje pet županija!". Dnevni list (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
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