Since 2013, nearly half a million Bosnians have left BiH and if this trend continues the struggling country will be left with a much lower income at a time when it is experiencing a boom in its population retiring, but the government is not doing much to address the issue.

Demographer Aleksandar Cavic told N1 that the government should have responded systematically to the devastating data on the emigration of people.

“No level of government has defined a policy that would be incorporated into a plan to offer an answer to these issues,” he said, arguing that some work has been done in Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity, but that since the publication of a research study in 2019, there was no institutional response.

“It seems to me that this situation is somewhat favourable to decision-makers, given that those who are not usually part of their political groups are leaving the country. The masses that could achieve changes in terms of the political elites who run the government are leaving,” Cavic said.

He explained that Bosnia is facing the beginning of an acceleration of negative trends in the labour market because the largest population born in the former Yugoslavia is retiring.

“We will have much lower income and an increased number of people who meet the conditions for retirement. I just can't believe that despite everything that has been happening for 10-15 years, people haven't found a way to solve this,” Cavic said.