More than 55,000 Bosnian citizens have given up their citizenship since the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995, according to official figures carried by the Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz daily on Sunday.
Bosnian citizens cannot hold the citizenship of another country if Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a bilateral agreement with that country regulating dual citizenship. According to information from the Civil Affairs Ministry, 3,367 people renounced their Bosnian citizenship in 2011, and in the period between early 1996 and the end of 2011, as many as 55,214 people did so.
Ministry spokeswoman Zorica Rulj said the ministry did not have information on which citizenship Bosnians mostly opt for, adding that under relevant legislation, Bosnian citizens do not have to state the reason why they want to give up their original citizenship.
In 2003, 9,070 Bosnians renounced their citizenship, the highest annual figure so far.
