Independence Day in 2025

When is Independence Day?

Independence Day is a provincial holiday celebrated in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is observed on March 1st.

History of Independence Day

Following the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) joined the South Slav Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which was renamed Yugoslavia.

After an economic and political crisis in the 1980s and the rise of nationalism, Yugoslavia broke up along its republics' borders at the start of the 1990s.

A declaration of the sovereignty of BiH took place on October 15th 1991 was followed by a referendum for independence on March 1st 1992. The question was: Are you for a sovereign and independent BiH, a state of equal citizens, peoples of BiH - Muslims, Serbs, Croats and members of other nations who live in it?

The turnout in the referendum was 63.4% and 99.7% of voters voted for independence.

BiH duly declared independence on March 3rd 1992 and was admitted as a member state of the United Nations on May 22nd 1992. This resulted in a political upheaval that would eventually turn into a bloody and brutal war.

The Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina then made the decision on February 28th 1995 that March 1st be the Independence Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a national holiday. Two days later, on March 1st 1995, Independence Day was celebrated for the first time.

The 1995 Dayton agreement divided post-war Bosnia into two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, and it is in the former that March 1st is a public holiday.

Republika Srpska, celebrates Republic Day on 9th January, the day of its creation, as a national holiday, which has caused a lot of friction in the Federation.