Over 95 percent of people in the Bosnian Serb entity within Bosnia-Hercegovina live in poverty, according to a survey published on Saturday in daily Glas Srpski.
Under the 1995 Dayton accords which ended a three-year war in Bosnia, the country was divided into two entities -- one Serb, the other a Muslim-Croat federation -- linked under a collegial presidency.
Only 4.3 percent of the 1,450 million people in the Republika Srpskacan afford to spend more than four US dollars a day, which according to world standards takes them above the poverty threshold, according to the survey, which was conducted with the help of the UN development commission.
The other 95.7 percent of people in the Bosnian Serb entity live below the poverty line and most cannot afford to spend even one dollar a day, the survey said.
The average salary in 2000 was 150 euros (130 dollars), while the average pension was 40 euros (35 dollars).
In Bosnia's Muslim-Croat Federation, where average salaries and pensions are higher then in the RS, 16.3 percent of the population are not below the poverty line. |
