According to all statistics, Germany is the most desirable destination for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to emigrate to. The outflow of residents is a problem for every country, and for a country like BiH, this problem becomes even more important.
Brain drain
The biggest problem that a state experiences is the loss of a highly educated population, and estimates are that during the 1990s, several hundred thousand people who could and should have been the bearers of the state’s development left BiH.
The census from 2013 revealed that BiH has about 3.5 million inhabitants, although the reality is that this number is lower. Today, although there is no new census, it is estimated that there are less than three million inhabitants in our country. There are no official and precise statistics on the number of people who left BiH in the last decade. Certain data are published by individual non-governmental organizations, so there are different numbers. The most drastic ones say that about 150.000 people left BiH in the last two years. However, such data cannot be taken with certainty since it is not clear how many people left permanently, how many are on temporary work, and how many have returned in the meantime.
Without a clear strategy
BiH has so far dealt with this problem along the way, without a clear strategy and vision. Citizens who are leaving the state that they are doing so for economic reasons, but also because of a general impression embodied in general defeatism. This primarily refers to mistrust of state institutions, dissatisfaction with the health, education, and security system, but also heavy bureaucracy that slows down and stifles social development.
According to the index of the so-called “fragile states”, which, among other things, evaluates the brain drain, our country is rated with an index of 6.1, which is a very unfavorable rating that measures how brain drain affects a country. BiH is one of the worst in the region in this regard. By comparison, Serbia has an index of 5.8, Croatia 5.4, North Macedonia 6.2, and Montenegro 5.5, while the lowest brain drain is in Slovenia which has an index of 2.9.
And in order for a country to maintain a high-quality and educated staff, it is necessary to give these people an equal chance and space for development, and thus a contribution to society. A young man who is studying today expects an adequate salary for his work, evaluation from the employer, and the creation of an atmosphere for personal development.
Attitude towards people
However, if emigration is already so present, then states can try to use the potential of their population in terms of creating the possibility for such people to invest in their country, to connect with an easier administration. BiH failed here as well, so investors still have to go through a thorny road to start a business with bureaucracy that kills all hope. Of course, there are some exceptions in that segment, but without significant impact on the overall situation.
What BiH relies on to the greatest extent are remittances, that is, money sent by the diaspora to BiH. According to data from the Central Bank of BiH, the share of money sent by the emigration to BiH is significant and accounts for about 14 percent of the country’s total GDP.
The decline was recorded only in the pandemic year of 2020, and after that, the positive trend was restored in the form of remittances, which annually reach BiH in the value of 4.3 billion BAM, of which more than 3 billion BAM are personal money transfers, with further growth in the inflow of remittances to BiH.
BiH thus came to a situation where it systematically educates staff and sends them abroad, mostly to Germany. Much more could be written about the quality of education, but that requires a separate topic. However, all those debates that are seen when university rankings are published every year and the decline of domestic, first of all, public universities is the result of a whole vicious circle in which BiH society is located, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
