This paper analyses the statistical parameters that give a comprehensive overview of the socio-demographic state of the border areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it represents a novel attempt to examine the disparity and relationships between central and peripheral parts of national territory. The methodology is based on examining the differences between border and non-border municipalities/cities according to four groups of indicators, to obtain four indices: depopulation, natural change, ageing and education. Statistically significant differences were found primarily in the context of population age structure, and it can be concluded that the ageing process has affected bordering regions more than the rest of the country.
The Dayton Peace Agreement established a new political and territorial division of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995, which led to changes in the internal regional structure and the concept of regional development, which was decisively influenced by the Inter-Entity Boundary Line. Such circumstances have caused certain changes also at the local level, where the number of municipalities/cities has increased from 109 to 143. The subject of research in this paper are newly formed units of local administration, among which the majority are those that were created by the inter-entity disintegration of once unique municipalities. In most cases, these are small, rural, underdeveloped and marginalized municipalities, whose economic self-sustainability is highly questionable. This study analyzes the basic socio-economic parameters, which also indicate a certain degree of differentiation among the observed municipalities, with those areas that are closer to larger urban centers being perceived as more positive examples.
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