Demographics of Banja Luka

Current population

The population of the city of Banja Luka in 1991. was 196,500. Today, BL City has a population little less than 250,000 citizens. Along with the metro area, Banja Luka has about 300,000 people. Although there is a lack of official statistics on ethnic distribution, there is little doubt that Serbs make up an overwhelming majority in the city. It is said that 65,000 of today's Banja Luka population are refugees or displaced persons.

Banja Luka municipality 2006:

• Serbs (92%)
• Bosniaks (4%)
• Croats (2%)
• Others (2%)

1991

According to the 1991. census, the municipality of Banja Luka had a population of 195,692, including:

• 106,826 (54.58%) Serbs
• 29,026 (14.83%) Croats
• 28,558 (14.59%) Muslims
• 23,656 (12.08%) Yugoslavs
• 7,626 (3.92%) others and unknown

1981

According to the 1981. census, the municipality of Banja Luka had a population of 183,618, including:

• 93,389 (50,86%) Serbs
• 30,442 (16,57%) Croats
• 21,726 (11,83%) Muslims by nationality
• 31,347 (17,07%) Yugoslavs
• 6,714 (3,65%) others and unknown

1971

According to the 1971. census, the municipality of Banja Luka had a population of 158,736, including:

• 92,465 (58,25%) Serbs
• 33,371 (21,02%) Croats
• 24,268 (15,28%) Muslims by nationality
• 4,684 (2,95%) Yugoslavs
• 3,948 (2,48%) others and unknown

Settlements (over 1,500 residents), 1991. census

• Banja Luka

total: 143,079

• 70,155 (49.03%) Serbs
• 27,689 (19.35%) Muslims by nationality
• 15,700 (10.97%) Croats
• 22,645 (15.82%) Yugoslavs
• 6,890 (4.81%) others and unknown

• Ivanjska

total: 4,577

• 3,306 (72.23%) Croats
• 1,095 (23.92%) Serbs
• 6 (0.13%) Muslims by nationality
• 118 (2.57%) Yugoslavs
• 52 (1.13%) others and unknown

• Piskavica

total: 3,798

• 3,729 (98.18%) Serbs
• 15 (0.39%) Croats
• 1 (0.02%) Muslims by nationality
• 27 (0.71%) Yugoslavs
• 26 (0.68%) others and unknown

• Rekavice

total: 2,679

• 2,487 (92.83%) Serbs
• 128 (4.77%) Croats
• 1 (0.03%) Muslims by nationality
• 49 (1.82%) Yugoslavs
• 14 (0.52%) others and unknown

• Dragočaj

total: 2,578

• 1,890 (73.31%) Croats
• 478 (18.54%) Serbs
• 21 (0.81%) Muslims by nationality
• 141 (5.46%) Yugoslavs
• 48 (1.86%) others and unknown

• Kola

total: 2,241

• 2,212 (98.70%) Serbs
• 1 (0.04%) Muslims by nationality
• 18 (0.80%) Yugoslavs
• 10 (0.44%) others and unknown

• Motike

total: 2,009

• 944 (46.98%) Croats
• 941 (46.83%) Serbs
• 10 (0.49%) Muslims by nationality
• 80 (3.98%) Yugoslavs
• 34 (1.69%) others and unknown

• Krupa na Vrbasu

total: 1,858

• 1,826 - 98.27% Serbs
• 7 - 0.37% Croats
• 1 - 0.05% Muslims by nationality
• 14 - 0.75% Yugoslavs
• 10 - 0.53% others and unknown

• Bistrica

total: 1,703

• 1,651 - 96.94% Serbs
• 6 - 0.35% Muslims by nationality
• 3 - 0.17% Croats
• 32 - 1.87% Yugoslavs
• 11 - 0.64% others and unknown

• Bočac

total: 1,685

• 1,670 - 99.10% Serbs
• 1 - 0.05% Croats
• 1 - 0.05% Muslims by nationality
• 3 - 0.17% Yugoslavs
• 10 - 0.59% others and unknown

• Pavlovac

total: 1,522

• 1,377 - 90.47% Serbs
• 26 - 1.70% Croats
• 7 - 0.45% Muslims by nationality
• 39 - 2.56% Yugoslavs
• 73 - 4.79% others and unknown

• Šimići

total: 1,516

• 1,493 - 98.48% Croats
• 8 - 0.52% Serbs
• 15 - 0.98% others and unknown

Historical population

See also: Historical population of Banja Luka

Ethnic composition of Banja Luka municipality in 1981.
Serbs
Croats
No clear majority (Serbs, Croats, Muslims (Bosniaks), Yugoslavs)
Uninhabited or no data

At the first census, conducted by Austro-Hungarian authorities in 1879, Banja Luka had the following religious (ethnic) composition:

Banja Luka municipality - 86,209 citizens, Orthodox 74.46%, Muslims 14.33%, Catholics 10.52%

Banja Luka city - 13,566 citizens, Muslims 67.71%, 19.8% Orthodox.

As the city was industrialized and wider urbanization of the surrounding areas took place, Orthodox Serbs that typically inhabited surrounding rural areas (due to Ottoman feudal system) were incorporated into the city's urban structure. Bosnian Muslims claim that their drop of percentage in the city's population was partly influenced by the Agrarian Reform of 1918, which ordered major landowners to transfer land to those who tilled it, who in this region were mostly Orthodox Serbs. The Agrarian Reform was introduced as means to dismantle the old Bosnian feudal system. Bosnian Muslims claim that the reform was abused to change the ethnic makeup of the region in the long term. Bosnian Serbs claim that Agrarian Reform was introduced to return the land stolen from the native Orthodox and Catholic people by the Ottoman Empire. Because city was in the center of the Bosnian Krajina region, with a predominant Orthodox Serb majority, the Serb population of Banja Luka has been steadily increasing.

Banja Luka is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Banja Luka and home to the Cathedral of St. Bonaventure.

During World War II most of Banja Luka's prominent Serbian and Sephardic Jewish families were deported to nearby Croatian concentration camps, such as Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska in Croatia. Today, Banja Luka's Jewish community is virtually non-existent. A spike in Serbian immigration was mostly noted after the earthquake of 1969, when the city has seen a boom in housing construction.

In 1991 the city of Banja Luka was still an ethnically mixed city (with a relative Serb majority), while on the municipal level there was an evident Serb majority of 54.6%.