Bosnians Pessimistic About Future, IRI Poll Shows

About 86 per cent of Bosnians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction while only 9 per cent believe it is moving in the right direction, a new poll suggests.

The data come from the International Republican Institute, IRI, which released the new poll on Tuesday.

It was conducted on behalf of the IRI's Center for Insights by the Ipsos market research and consulting firm in March and April 2018 on 1,513 Bosnians.

IRI Deputy Director for Europe Paul McCarthy called the findings disturbing, and said Bosnian officials should be aware of them and try to resolve people's concerns.

"There is a danger that these sentiments could be manipulated by illiberal forces both within and outside of the country to fuel extremism. It is crucial that the government of Bosnia take steps to address the issues contributing to these negative attitudes," he told the IRI website.

Bosnia's biggest problem is unemployment, according to 57 per cent of those who participated in the survey.

Corruption and bribery, the poor economy, low salaries and pensions and politicians and political parties are listed among top five biggest problems that Bosnia faces.

The security situation is deemed unsatisfactory by 53 per cent of those who responded to the survey, while 42 per cent are concerned about ethnic-nationalist extremism.

Some 35 per cent said they believed organised crime is the biggest security threat to Bosnia, followed by conflict between ethnic groups and between religious groups.

The study showed that Bosnians remain "traditional" when it comes to the use of the media, as 66 per cent of them listed the TV as the main source of their daily political news; 18 per cent use internet portals and sites.

When it comes to...