The social position of children in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is extremely unfavorable, and this is one of the main causes of negative demographic processes, according to the document “Towards the European Union – Key Problems of Social Inclusion in BiH”.
The analysis showed that at the age of five to fifteen, 73.8 percent of children were deprived of one segment and 22.8 percent in three or more segments.
Almost one-third of children (30.6 percent) of this age are poor, which means that the greater the percentage of children in poverty than adults.
Younger children up to four years old were mostly deprived of food (71.8 percent) and child development (65.7 percent).
Roma children and children with some form of disability are in a chronic state of multidimensional poverty resulting from generational social exclusion, discrimination and inherited family poverty.
It is estimated that 6.5 percent of children aged two to nine have some form of disability, and they are the most marginalized and excluded in BiH society.
The share of children under the age of 18 with developmental disabilities in the total population is almost one percent, or 6.239 children have some form of developmental disorder, out of which 3,639 boys and 2,690 girls.