For more than a decade, Bosnia and Herzegovina has recorded minimal progress when it comes to the share of highly educated citizens, according to data from the World Bank and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).
According to the indicator “Educational attainment, at least Bachelor’s or equivalent, population 25+, total (%)”, which monitors the percentage of the population over 25 years of age with a university or higher education degree, in recent years BiH has generally been between 11 and 14 percent.
U latest data for 2023 BiH has about 11.3 percent of the highly educated population, which is almost identical to the level that the country had in earlier reports.
The data show that Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded a slight growth in some years. According to World Bank/UIS data transmitted by the CEIC database, the share of the population with completed tertiary education reached 14.54 percent in 2022, after which it fell again to 12.77 percent in 2023.
In the description of the methodology, the World Bank states that the UNESCO database “shows the educational structure of the population over 25 years old” and that it “reflects the structure and results of the education system, as well as its long-term impact on the development of human capital.”
In other words, these data do not only show the number of degrees, but also the long-term effects of the education system and the development of human capital in a country.
BiH is far behind the region
A comparison with the countries of the region shows that Bosnia and Herzegovina lags behind significantly.
Serbia in recent years it ranges around 20 to 21 percent of highly educated citizens, Croatia is between 22 and 25 percent, while Slovenia is already close to 40 percent of the population with a university degree or higher education.
The difference is even more pronounced compared to developed European countries.
Ireland today has more than 50 percent of its population over 25 with a higher education degree, while Switzerland and Great Britain are above 40 percent.
This means that certain western countries have up to four times the share of highly educated citizens than Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Long-term stagnation
Although universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have produced a higher number of diplomas in recent years than before, the overall educational structure of the population has not changed significantly, statistical data show.
In one of its reviews of education for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the OECD states that the country “has a high level of educational achievements and achieves results similar to other economies of the Western Balkans”, but at the same time it remains far behind the average of developed European countries.
Experts have been warning for years that such results are influenced by the mass departure of young and educated people from the country, the weak labor market and insufficient investment in higher education and research.
While European countries are continuously increasing the number of highly educated citizens, BiH is practically stagnating, and the latest data show that the country has returned to a level of around 11 to 12 percent after a short-term growth.
