A lucky few, usually the most skilled and educated, have migrated to countries around the world and have started a new life. Returns of refugees and IDPs in the region were well below the levels called for in the Dayton Peace Accords. In 2000, over 60 per cent of the population of FRY was estimated to be living below the poverty line and in Croatia the figure was some 20 per cent. Vulnerable groups including children and women, pensioners, the disabled, refugees and displaced people clearly suffered the brunt of this crisis. Alongside gains in political rights, the people of the region have lost many of the basic social and economic rights they enjoyed under socialism.
Millions are unemployed or underemployed.
Many young people have emigrated, adding to the brain drain. Some of those who have stayed behind have been seduced by crime, drug abuse and risk taking sexual behaviour. Increasing poverty and falling incomes have also pushed many people into the burgeoning black or informal economy for survival. One of the consequences of this has been that a growing portion of the economically active population is subjected to insecure working conditions with low pay and negligible or non-existent benefits. Women, pushed out of the paid formal sector, were particularly affected.