Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) takes first place in the list of countries with the largest decrease in the number of inhabitants in the world. These data are from the report “Perspectives of the world population of the United Nations (UN) for 2022″. And our country loses “one city” every year and that this trend continues from year to year, the Austrian newspaper “Heute” wrote in the text about emigration from BiH. The road to a better life has ravaged numerous areas in our country. While the government in our country watches silently, at bus stations, in the hands of BiH citizens – there is only a one-way ticket.
Young people with suitcases and a one-way ticket can be seen every day at the bus station in Banja Luka. They go mainly to Germany, Austria and Slovenia. Here, they say, there is no perspective, except for party cadres. One of them is twenty-three-year-old Milica Knezevic, who found a job in a Slovenian company that produces medical plastics. While many of my friends, she says, do not succeed in finding a job, I chose to leave this country.
“The biggest motive for young people to go abroad is employment, because they offer a wide range of employment and we don’t have that here. There are much greater opportunities in foreign countries, such as the possibility to succeed in some professions,“ stated Milica Knezevic.
A dangerous trend is the emigration of entire families from the country, not only for existential reasons, but also for an uncertain present and a very questionable future, according to sociologist Vladimir Vasic. He emphasizes that the war-mongering rhetoric of politicians, the rattling of weapons, constant threats to peace and stability contribute to mass emigration. Well-to-do families also leave, because they see neither a future nor a perspective for their children in BiH.
“If you are not well integrated into the political circles and party networks and political infrastructure, it is very difficult to find employment and place yourself in society, and that is one of the key reasons why people leave this country.”
Demographers and analysts agree that the departure of young people from these areas is an alarming problem and that soon, if emigration continues at this rate, we will become a country of old people.
“In no year did less than 30,000-35,000 inhabitants leave, and estimates are that we lost between 400,000 and 500,000 inhabitants in the field of external migration,“ told Aleksandar Cavic, a demographer.
“To go back 15-20 years of our ignorance, inaction has put us in a position where we have the biggest noose around our neck, which is the departure of the labor force, the most productive part of the population, between the ages of 18 and 35,“ said Aleksandar Ljuboja, economic analyst.
According to estimates by the UN, BiH will lose half of its population by 2070, and only 1.6 million inhabitants will live there. The departure of the professional and highly educated workforce, judging by the absence of serious measures for staying here, does not worry the authorities in BiH.
E.Dz.
