Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina has been actively working on digital development. The country’s main objectives are in the electronic communications sector are increasing productivity and efficiency in business and improving public and e-government services. The internal organisation of the state and division of competencies between government levels within the country results in a big fragmentation of approach to resolving any issue and is the main contributor to reforms and governance processes being slow (or failing to succeed) – be it the rule of law, transparency, accountability, openness, ethics, conflicts of interest or the fight against corruption, stability and security (including cybersecurity)Â to name a few.
Internet governance
Bosnian stakeholders are active participants in various internet governance forums and initiatives at the regional and global levels. Bosnian stakeholders participate in the annual South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEE+) and Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) events, which bring together stakeholders from the region to discuss digital policy-related issues and challenges. At the global level, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the national IGF was organised for three consecutive years (2015, 2016, and 2017). There is currently an initiative to re-establish the national BH IGF.
Digital strategies
Digital strategies and policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina mostly focus on the development of the digital economy, data protection, and e-government.
The country has an electronic communications policy from 2017 to 2021, articulating a vision for the country’s ICT ecosystem and identifying seven pillars of the ecosystem. The digital economy is seen as a key driver for enhancing competitiveness within Europe, increasing productivity and efficiency in business, and improving public and e-government services.
Data protection is regulated by the Law on Protection of Personal Data, which covers the protection of personal data in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as by natural and legal persons. The Personal Data Protection Agency (AZLP) is the data protection authority responsible for enforcing data protection laws.
E-government is one of the country’s top priorities. Bosnia and Herzegovina started the process of introducing e-government with the adoption of the Information Society Development Policy and Strategy in 2004, but the vast majority of envisioned policies and actions have never been implemented due to a lack of internal capacities in state institutions. According to the UN 2022 E-Government Development Index, Bosnia and Herzegovina has underdeveloped e-services
Cybersecurity
Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently in the process of aligning its domestic legislation with international cybersecurity standards. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in the Western Balkan region without a cybersecurity strategy and CERT on a national level. However, elements related to cybersecurity are embedded within the Criminal Code
International Cooperation: Efforts towards bolstering cybersecurity involve collaboration with NATO for common solutions in cyber defence. Bosnia and Herzegovina has actively participated in the NATO SPS Programme. Additionally, as an OSCE member state, the country is mandated to implement confidence-building measures set forth by the organisation.
AI strategies and policies
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, AI strategies and policies are still being developed, with no comprehensive national strategy in place yet.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is home to several universities with strong research performance in AI, including the University of Sarajevo, International BURCH University, and the University of Banja Luka. The country is also working on developing local interventions in media literacy and AI, with support from the Council of Europe.
General profile
Official name: Bosnia and Herzegovina
National internet domain: BA
Area: 51,197 km2
Capital: Sarajevo
Population: 3,507,017
Population growth: -0.53
Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.Life expectancy at birth: 77.55
Total years (2020year)Rule of law estimate: -0.28
Rule of Law captures perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Regulatory quality estimate: -0.23
Political stability: -0.38
Economic info
Currency: convertible mark
Unemployment: 15.22
Unemployment, total (% of total labor force)GDP (current US$): 22,571,512,867.28
GDP growth (annual %): 7.1
GDP per capita (current US$): 6,916.44
Inflation, consumer prices (annual %): 1.98
GNI (current US$): 22,359,975,800.10
The Gross National Income, GNI, formerly referred to as gross national product (GNP), measures the total domestic and foreign value added claimed by residents, at a given period in time, usually a year, expressed in current US dollars using the World Bank Atlas method. GNI comprises GDP plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from non-resident sources.Ease of doing business score: 65.44
The ease of doing business score benchmarked economies concerning their proximity to the best performance in each area measured by Doing Business for the year 2019. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from0 = lowest performance to 100 = best performance
Digital profile
Internet and social media penetration:
Individuals using the internet, total (%): 75.7 (2021)
Social media statistics: 2.05 million
Estimate for 2022Male internet users: 79.2 (2021)
Male internet users as a % of total male populationFacebook users: 1.45 million
Estimate for 2022Female internet users: 72.7 (2021)
Female Internet users as a % of total female populationInstagram users: 1.20 million
Estimate for 2022Households with internet access at home (%): 75.5 (2021)
Linkedin users: 300.0 thousand
Estimate for 2022Fixed broadband subscriptions: 24.4 (2021)
Total fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) refers to fixed subscriptions to high-speed access to the public internet (a TCP/IP connection), at downstream speeds equal to, or greater than, 256 kbit/s.Twitter users: 113.6 thousand
Estimate for 2022Mobile infrastructure and access:
Mobile ownership: 76.48
Mobile phone ownership as a % of total population (Estimate for 2021)Mobile Infrastructure: 66.44
Mobile Infrastructure index: High-performance mobile internet coverage availability. It includes parameters such as network coverage, performance, quality of supporting infrastructure and amount of spectrum assigned to mobile network operators (Estimate for 2021)Male mobile ownership: No data
Male mobile phone ownership as a % of total male populationMobile Affordability: 57.78
Mobile Affordability index : The availability of mobile services and devices at price points that reflect the level of income across a national population. It includes parameters such as mobile tariffs, headset prices, taxation and inequality (Estimate for 2021)Female mobile ownership: No data
Female mobile phone ownership as a % of total female populationCybersecurity Index: 29.44
Cybersecurity Index (Estimate for 2021): ITU cybersecurity valueNetwork performance: 57.87
Network performance index: Quality of mobile services measured by download speed, upload speed and latencies (Estimate for 2021)Mobile download speeds: 41.68
Mobile download speeds: Average download speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2021)Mobile uploads speeds: 44.04
Mobile uploads speeds: average uploads speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2021)Mobile Latencies: 87.89
Mobile Latencies: Average latency for mobile users (originally in milliseconds) (Estimate for 2021)Speedtest-Broadband: 30.47
Speedtest-Broadband: The value is expressed in Mbps (Estimate for 2021)Network coverage: 84.68
Network coverage (% of total population) (Estimate for 2021)2G Coverage: 100.0
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)3G Coverage: 96.71
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)4G Coverage: 90.0
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)5G Coverage: 0.0
Coverage % of population (Estimate for 2021)Operating system and browser market share estimate for 2022:
Operating system market share (%):
Desktop, Tablet & Console Operating System Market Share: Estimate for 2022Browser market share (%):
Browser Market Share Worldwide: Estimate for 2022Android: 53.76
Chrome: 79.66
Win10: 23.01
Safari: 7.73
iOS: 8.27
Edge: 2.04
OS X: 1.49
Firefox: 4.51
Win11: 1.99
Samsung Internet: 3.64
The UN E-Government Survey 2022:
The UN E-Government Survey is the assessment of the digital government landscape across all UN member states. The E-Government Survey is informed by over two decades of longitudinal research, with a ranking of countries based on the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies.E-Government Rank: 96
Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies. Estimate gives the country's rank.E-Government Index: 0.63
The EGDI is a composite measure of three important dimensions of e-government, namely: provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.E-Participation Index: 0.53
The E-Participation Index (EPI) is derived as a supplementary index to the United Nations E-Government Survey. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.Online Service Index: 0.49
The online services index was developed by the UN to evaluate the scope and quality of government online services. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.Human Capital Index: 0.75
The Human Capital Index (HCI) quantiï¬_x0081_es the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.Telecommunication Infrastructure Index: 0.64
Telecommunication Infrastructure Index- Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) Composite Indicator that measures the countries' Telecommunication infrastructure readiness to adopt the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technology as to enhance their competitiveness. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.ICT information:
ICT skills
Information economy indicators
Individuals with basic ICT skills (%): 31.7 (2021)
Share of ICT goods, % of total exports (value) 0.16 (2021)
Individuals with standard ICT skills (%): 20.5 (2021)
Share of ICT goods, % of total import (value): 2.69 (2021)
Individuals with advanced ICT skills (%): 2.1 (2021)
Most visited website: klix.ba
The survey conducted in 2022 excluded global dominant sites (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, and Google) and search engines (e.g., Yahoo, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Naver, and Yandex) to level the playing field and discount middle-man visits. Likewise, it did not include adult, betting, illegal streaming/downloading services, and malicious websites.
