Judging by the vital statistics, Canton 10, much like the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, does not have a bright future. Despite being made up of six local self-governments and covering the largest surface area in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity, the white plague is the real state of this canton, and there is also a continuous trend of emigration and seeking a better future in the countries of Western Europe, and the US.

For more than a decade, the number of deaths was usually twice the number of newborns in Canton 10, and in 2023 the ratio between births and deaths is one to two and a half.

“261 children were born, the data refers to all municipalities, and at the same time, 667 people died in the Canton,” said Dr Diana Mamic, the Director of the Public Health Institute of Canton 10.

The worst situation is in Bosanski Grahovo, since only one child was born last year, and 29 people died. According to the analyses of the past years, the white plague is a permanent condition in the largest Canton in terms of area.

“From 2005 to 2023, there was a big difference in the number of births and deaths, so far we have lost 8,426 inhabitants, which is roughly the size of the city of Livno,” Mamic pointed out.

Local governments try to help young families with one-time cash allowances for newborn children.

“For the first newborn child, the allowance is 700 Bosnian marks (some €350), for the second child it’s 900 (some €450), for the third its 1,100 (some €550), for the fourth and each subsequent child the allowance is 1,400 marks (some €700),” said Darko Condric, the mayor of Livno.

There are also other measures under the jurisdiction of local self-government units:

“Subsidies for private kindergartens, free school transport, subsidies for the first residential property – these are all demographic measures that are within our jurisdiction and we can adopt them, but the city can’t solve demography by itself, that is the strategy of the state and the canton,” Condric pointed out.