Bosnian diaspora

The Bosnian diaspora consists of Bosnian emigrants of all ethnicities and their descendants in countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Australia and elsewhere. There are an estimated 2,000,000 Bosnians living outside Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Causes

The Bosnian diaspora was the consequence of either voluntary departure, coercion and/or forced migrations or expulsions that occurred on several occasions since the 1870s:

• In the late 19th century to the east and west caused by the invading forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• In the early 20th century between the two wars, Bosnians moved to the east and west. They fled to Turkey, Austria, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, United States, and Canada. This occurred mostly during the Second World War.
• The Bosnian War in the early 1990s (from 1992 to 1995). Many Bosnian refugees sought asylum in Western Europe (Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and the non-EU nations of Norway and Switzerland), North America (United States and Canada) and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand).