HOW DID SARAJEVO GET ITS NAME?
Sarajevo got its name from a Slavicized abbreviation of the Turkish words saray (palace/house) and ovasi (field), referring to the vast fields west of the administrative buildings constructed for district administration.
1. Pray that God builds His palace (church, dwelling) in the Sarajevo Valley;
2. Pray that He transforms this city into a fertile field for the Good News
DEMOGRAPHIC DATA:
According to the latest population census from 2013, the total population of the City of Sarajevo is 275,524, while the population of Sarajevo Canton is estimated at 413,593.
Age Regarding the age structure of Sarajevo
The majority of people fall between the ages of 15 and 64. This group comprises 208,703 individuals, or just over 70% of the total urban population. When it comes to people aged 14 and younger and those aged 65 and older, the youth have a slight advantage. In Sarajevo, there are 47,558 individuals under the age of 14, constituting 16% of the total population, compared to 41,138 individuals aged 65 and older, making up 13.8% of the total population. The Novi Grad municipality has the highest percentage of citizens under the age of 14 in the city, at 17.4%, while 17.5% of the population of Novo Sarajevo is aged 65 and older. Overall, the city’s population is somewhat older than the surrounding areas and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole.
Ethnic Groups
The largest ethnic group in Sarajevo is the Bosniaks, with over 230,000 people, making up 77.4% of the city. They are followed by Serbs, numbering around 35,000 (12% of the city), and Croats with 22,380 residents (7.5% of the total population). 9,283 individuals (3.1% of the total population) are classified as others. They likely consist of Sephardic Jews and Roma, along with a small number of foreign workers, as well as Bosnians from mixed marriages who do not align with any specific ethnicity.
Birth Rate
The birth rate in the city is 9.17, while the mortality rate is 8.10, resulting in a population growth rate of 1.07. Meanwhile, the larger Sarajevo area has a birth rate of 9.56 and a mortality rate of 8.01, resulting in a population growth rate of approximately 1.55. This would indicate a population of 303,797 in the city by December 2004 and 413,649 in the metropolitan area. If the current growth trend continues, the city’s population is expected to reach pre-war levels in less than 25 years.