Translated's Research Center

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Europe

To which language should you translate to localize in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

LANGUAGE INSIGHT

Official languages

Bosnian (45.3%; 1.45 mln) and Serbian (15.2%; 488k)

Actual languages

Bosnian (45.3%; 1.45 mln), Croatian (28.8%; 924k), Serbian (15.2%; 488k), other (10.7%; 343k).

What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in Bosnia and Herzegovina

(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)

  • 27/150 localize by translating into Bosnian
  • 7/150 localize by translating into Croatian
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into Serbian
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into both Bosnian and Serbian
  • Localization not available 3M
  • Localization not available ABB
  • Localization not available Accenture
  • Localization not available Adidas
  • Localization not available Adobe
  • Localization available Airbnb
  • Localization not available Aldi
  • Localization not available Amazon
  • Localization not available American Airlines
  • Localization available American Express
  • Localization not available Apple
  • Localization available Audi
  • Localization not available Autodesk
  • Localization available Avis
  • Localization not available Bayer
  • Localization available BMW
  • Localization not available Booking.com
  • Localization available Bosch
  • Localization not available British Airways
  • Localization not available Bumble
  • Localization not available Burberry
  • Localization not available BYD
  • Localization available Canon
  • Localization not available Capgemini
  • Localization not available Cartier
  • Localization not available Caterpillar
  • Localization not available Chevrolet
  • Localization not available Cisco Systems
  • Localization not available Citibank
  • Localization available Coca-Cola
  • Localization not available Costco
  • Localization not available Dell
  • Localization not available Deloitte
  • Localization not available Delta
  • Localization available DHL
  • Localization not available Disney+
  • Localization not available Dyson
  • Localization not available eBay
  • Localization not available Eli Lilly
  • Localization not available Emirates
  • Localization not available Ernst & Young
  • Localization available Facebook
  • Localization not available FedEx
  • Localization available Ford
  • Localization not available Four Seasons
  • Localization not available Fujifilm
  • Localization not available GE
  • Localization not available Gillette
  • Localization not available GoDaddy
  • Localization available Google
  • Localization not available Gucci
  • Localization not available Haier
  • Localization available Heineken
  • Localization not available Hermès
  • Localization not available Hertz
  • Localization not available Hilton
  • Localization available Hisense
  • Localization not available Hitachi
  • Localization available Honda
  • Localization not available Hotels.com
  • Localization not available HP
  • Localization not available HP Enterprise
  • Localization not available HSBC
  • Localization not available Huawei
  • Localization not available Hyatt
  • Localization not available Hyundai
  • Localization not available IBM
  • Localization not available IKEA
  • Localization not available Intel
  • Localization not available InterContinental Hotels
  • Localization not available J&J
  • Localization not available Jack Daniel's
  • Localization available Jehovah’s Witnesses
  • Localization not available John Deere
  • Localization not available Kellogg's
  • Localization available Kia
  • Localization not available KPMG
  • Localization not available LOréal
  • Localization available Land Rover
  • Localization not available LEGO
  • Localization not available Lenovo
  • Localization not available Lexus
  • Localization not available LG
  • Localization not available Louis Vuitton
  • Localization not available Lululemon
  • Localization available LUSH
  • Localization not available Marriott
  • Localization available MasterCard
  • Localization not available McDonald's
  • Localization available Mercedes-Benz
  • Localization not available Merck
  • Localization available Microsoft
  • Localization not available Mitsubishi Electric
  • Localization available Nestlé
  • Localization available Netflix
  • Localization not available Nike
  • Localization not available Nikon
  • Localization not available Nintendo
  • Localization not available Nio
  • Localization not available Nissan
  • Localization not available NIVEA
  • Localization not available Oracle
  • Localization not available Pampers
  • Localization available Panasonic
  • Localization not available PayPal
  • Localization available Pepsi
  • Localization available Pfizer
  • Localization not available Philips
  • Localization not available Pitney Bowes
  • Localization not available Porsche
  • Localization not available Procter & Gamble
  • Localization not available PWC
  • Localization not available Revolut
  • Localization not available Rolex
  • Localization not available Royal Caribbean
  • Localization not available Salesforce
  • Localization available Samsung
  • Localization not available Sanofi
  • Localization available SAP
  • Localization not available Sephora
  • Localization not available Shopify
  • Localization not available Siemens
  • Localization available Sony
  • Localization available Spotify
  • Localization not available Starbucks
  • Localization not available Steelcase
  • Localization not available Stripe
  • Localization not available Subaru
  • Localization not available Tesla
  • Localization not available The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Localization not available Tiffany
  • Localization available Tinder
  • Localization not available Toshiba
  • Localization available Toyota
  • Localization not available TripAdvisor
  • Localization not available Uber
  • Localization not available United Airlines
  • Localization not available UPS
  • Localization not available Visa
  • Localization available Volkswagen
  • Localization available Volvo Cars
  • Localization not available Vrbo
  • Localization not available Walmart
  • Localization not available Western Union
  • Localization available Wikipedia
  • Localization not available Wise
  • Localization not available WordPress
  • Localization not available Workday
  • Localization not available Xerox
  • Localization not available Xiaomi (Mi)
  • Localization not available Zara
  • Localization not available Zoom
Available in

If you need others information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data

Overview


Language

Official language
Bosnian (45.3%) and Serbian (15.2%)

Actual languages
Bosnian (45.3%), Croatian (28.8%), Serbian (15.2%), other (10.7%).

Immigrant languages
Italian, Ukrainian, Turkish, German

T-index
0.03%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Demography

Capitals: Sarajevo
Currency: Bosnia-Herzegovina Convertible Marka
Population: 3.210 mln
Population density: 64/km2

Economy

GDP: 27.05 billion USD (2023)
GDP per capita: 8,426.1 USD‎ (2023)
Exports: $10.2 billion USD (2022)

Statistics

Unemployment rate10.7% (2023)
Urbanisation: 50% (2023)
Literacy
98% (2022)
Internet users83.4% penetration, 2.67 million

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numerals with comma as decimal separator.

Date format: dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 00387

Language data sources: Worldatlas/Britannica//EF/Wikipedia; Demography data sources: IMF/Worldometers; Conventions data source: Wikipedia; Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal; Statistics data sources: Datareportal/WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF/Culturalatlas/Commisceoglobal/Worlddata

Facts and data


Economy

Imports
$15.8 billion (2022). Refined Petroleum ($1.46B), Raw Aluminium ($595M), Coal Briquettes ($492M), Cars ($437M), and Electricity ($344M), importing mostly from Croatia ($2.45B), Serbia ($2.14B), Germany ($1.33B), Italy ($1.26B), and China ($1.04B).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 79.3% have an account with a financial institution
• 18% have a credit card
• 7.8% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
Ease of conducting business is medium (rated 65.4 out of 100). Ranked 22nd out of 24 European and Central Asian countries. Ranked 90th out of 190 countries worldwide (2023, World Bank).

Exports
$10.2 billion (2022). Electricity ($606M), Raw Aluminium ($458M), Seats ($338M), Insulated Wire ($337M), and Iron Structures ($335M), exporting mostly to Croatia ($1.47B), Germany ($1.46B), Serbia ($1.35B), Italy ($1.07B), and Austria ($942M).

Main local online stores
olx.ba, ebay.com, amazon.com

Economic freedom
“Moderately free” (rated 62 out of 100). Ranked 33rd out of 44 European countries. Ranked 67th out of 184 countries worldwide (2024, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 37th out of 39 European countries, 77th out of 132 worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal


Service Imports (2019)
Service Exports (2019)

Source: OEC

Trade balance of goods from 2013 to 2023

Source: Statista

Historical Data Trade Imports

The following section uses historical trade data imports from partners of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Historical Data Trade Exports

The following section uses historical trade data exports from partners of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Source: OEC

The Top Export Opportunities for Bosnia and Herzegovina by Relatedness

Relatedness measures the distance between a country's current exports and each product by showing only products that Bosnia and Herzegovina is not specialized in.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's Most Complex Exports

The Product Complexity Index (PCI) measures the knowledge intensity of a product by considering the knowledge intensity of its exporters.

Source: OEC

Bosnia and Herzegovina's Most Specialized Products

Specialization is measured using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), an index that takes the ratio between Bosnia and Herzegovina observed and expected exports in each product.

Source: OEC

Market Growth Imports (2019)

This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start importing that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.

Market Growth Exports (2019)

This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start exporting that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.

Source: OEC

Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP)

Source: WorldBank


T-index

T-index

Reach most of the online purchasing power

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales. It estimates the market share of each country in relation to global e-commerce.

Try it now

Media

Media language
Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, English.

Information channels
Divisions between the entities that make up Bosnia-Herzegovina are reflected in the media.
TV is the most popular medium. BHRT is the state broadcaster, but the most influential TV outlets are those run by the Bosniak-Croat (RTVFBiH) and Serb (RTRS) entities. These are effectively controlled by the ruling political parties.
There are more than 200 commercial radio and TV stations. The sector is saturated and outlets operate within a weak advertising market. Advertising revenues for broadcasters outstrip those for print media.
Bosnian broadcasters face strong competition from their counterparts in Serbia and Croatia, and popular networks from these countries are widely available on cable.
Reporters Without Borders says the polarised political climate has created a hostile environment for media freedom. It says media ownership is concentrated and the ownership of outlets is not transparent.

The press

Oslobodjenje (Liberation) – Sarajevo, daily
Dnevni Avaz (Daily Voice) – Sarajevo, daily
Nezavisne Novine (Independent Newspaper) – Banja Luka, daily
Glas Srpske (Voice of the Serb Republic) – Banja Luka, Bosnian Serb government daily
Dnevni List (Daily Courier) – Mostar, daily
Dani (Days) – Sarajevo, weekly
Slobodna Bosna (Free Bosnia) – Sarajevo, weekly

Television

Radio and TV of Bosnia and Herzegovina – state-wide public broadcaster, operates BHTV1
Federation TV (FTV) – public TV service of Bosnian Muslim-Croat entity
Serb Republic Radio-TV (RTRS) – operates public TV service of Bosnian Serb entity
OBN – commercial
Nova BH – commercial
Hayat TV – commercial
O Kanal – commercial
Alternativna televizija (ATV) – commercial, Banja Luka-based Serb network
N1 – commercial, news
Al-Jazeera Balkans – commercial, regional outlet of well-known Qatari broadcaster

Radio

Radio and TV of Bosnia and Herzegovina – state-wide public broadcaster, operates BH Radio 1
Radio FBiH – public radio service of Bosniak-Croat entity
Serb Republic Radio-TV (RTRS) – operates public radio service of Bosnian Serb entity
Radio Herceg Bosna – Croat network, Mostar-based
Bobar Radio – commercial, Bijeljina-based Bosnian Serb service
Radio Stari Grad (RSG) – private, Sarajevo-based

News agency

Federation News Agency (Fena) – state-run, Sarajevo-based, English-language pages
SRNA – official Bosnian Serb agency
Onasa – private, Sarajevo-based, English-language pages
Anadolu Agency – Bosnian outlet of Turkish official news agency
Klix – news site
Radio Sarajevo – news site

Media data source: BBC


Internet Data

Internet users
83.4% penetration, 2.67 million

Share of web traffic by device
62.47% mobile phones, 36.18% computers (laptops and desktops), 1.30% tablet devices, others 0.04%.

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
23.41 Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
29.11 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population
122.8%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G)
89.4%

Most popular web search engines
Google (96.63%), Bing (2.61%), Yahoo! (0.38%), Yandex (0.16%), DuckduckGo (0.12%), other (0.1%).

Most used social media
Facebook (86.25%), Instagram (6.68%), Twitter (2.63%), Pinterest (2.31%), YouTube (1.37%), Reddit (0.49%), Tumblr (0.12%), other (0.15%).

Internet data sources: Datareportal/Statcounter


Social statistics

Life expectancy
75 yrs (2022)

Corruption perceptions Index
Bosnia and Herzegovina scored 34 out of 100, ranked 110th out of 180 countries worldwide.

Current health expenditure
9.56% of GDP

CO2 emissions
6.3 metric tons per capita

Ethnicity
Ethnicity was always seen like a religion and it is linked to the geographical location and what entity you belong to (i.e.  Serbian, Croat or Muslim). Nowadays, it is important more than ever as people are still adjusting to and digesting the outcomes of events during the 1992-1996 period, although it is less important in mixed areas. Following the main agreements for the establishment of Bosnia and Herzegovina, people generally accept the requirements of an ethnically balanced government and its agencies. However the private sector may not adhere to these agreements to the same extent. Signs of distrust vary from entity to entity and are still visible.

Gender
It is a man’s world with full respect for a successful woman. Generally speaking, it is harder for a woman to build a career. Women residing within cities have a better status than ones within villages.

Religion
It did not have importance prior to the war. It is probably very important now, especially within rural areas. However, it is less important in mixed areas (areas of mixed ethnicity).

Class
No clear distinction between classes, but it does matter who is who. Antagonism between urban and rural areas is widespread as is prejudice and bias from the urban population towards the rural. Someone coming from a more individually oriented society might be surprised by the importance and significance of societal milieu and prestige.

World Happiness Index
Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked 67th out of 146 countries, with a score of 5.768.

Social statistics sources: WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF


The Data Factbook is a work in progress project. Our community is helping us to fill it up always with new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write your advices at imminent@translated.com


Country Curiosities


Sarajevo holds the distinction of being the first city in Europe with a full-time electric tram system. Trams have been integral to the city since 1885 when horse-drawn trams, known as “green dragons” for their speed and color, connected downtown Sarajevo with the train station. In 1895, Sarajevo introduced its first electric tram, powered by a new coal plant that also lit the city’s street lamps. The tram line ran from the rail station to the Latin Bridge, marking Europe’s first full-time electric tram line. Today, Sarajevo’s tram and trolleybus systems are vital to the city’s transport network, although they suffered extensive damage during the 1990s war, with many vehicles destroyed or damaged.

Additionally…

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia on April 5th, 1992, leading to the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995.
  • The country has a complex demographic with three main ethnic groups: Bosniaks (mostly Muslim), Croats, and Serbs, with Bosniaks being the largest.
  • The Sarajevo Film Festival, established in 1995 during the Bosnian War, is now one of Europe’s largest, attracting over 100,000 visitors annually.
  • The 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo were the first Winter Games held in a socialist state, a Slavic-speaking country, and the Balkans since the inaugural Olympics in Athens.
  • Bosnia’s national anthem is one of the few in the world without lyrics.
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina has no official language, but Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian are used de facto, as recognized by the Constitutional Court.
  • The name “Bosnia” derives from the Indo-European word “Bosana,” meaning water.
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina is composed of two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska.
  • Despite the civil war ending over two decades ago, more than 220,000 landmines remain buried in the country, posing a significant problem.

The geographical distribution of languages that you will find in the maps published in this section is a work in progress. Our community is helping us to fill it up with always new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write to imminent.factbook@translated.com


Photo credit: ADEV, Unsplash