17,8 Percent of the B&H Population Live in Poverty
A survey, conducted by UK Department of International Development DFID for the needs of the B&H Council of Ministers, shows that the level of poverty in Bosnia and Herzegovina is falling down, but nonetheless, 17.8 percent of the population still live in poverty.
The annual income per capita (not exceeding 2223 KM or 1137 EUR) was used as the criteria for the definition of the poverty line in B&H. The line for extreme poverty was set at annual per capita income of less than 772 KM (394 EUR). According to these criteria, there are no extremely poor people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on the estimates that B&H has population of 3,8 million, the Survey states that 681,455 persons live in poverty. The category is dominated, in terms of sheer numbers, by the families with three or more children, the refugees and IDPs, families in which the oldest person is younger than 25, the unemployed and the families with low level of education. Two thirds of the total number of families with three or more children live below the poverty line, making up for ten percent of the total number of the poor. Compared to the previous report period, the results show that the level of poverty was, indeed, on the downward trend in 2004. Compared to 2001, the number of poor citizens in the Republc of Srpska has fallen by four percent, while the B&H Federation has registered a decline of 1 percent over the same period. The fact that a great number of children in B&H remain poor causes the greatest concern, according to the Survey. That fact could have long-reaching consequences, for it means that poverty transfers to a new generation of the population. |
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