Before the dissolution of the Yugoslav SFR, Sarajevo, as the capital, was an important center of cultural activity. Numerous historic sites have been damaged from the war, including the National Library. In Banja Luka, there is an important university and public library founded in 1936, and holding 226,000 volumes with an impressive collection of Eastern manuscripts. The University of Sarajevo also housed an impressive library, but it was badly damaged during the civil war. The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a library with 162,000 volumes.

Prior to the 1992 war, Sarajevo was a major cultural center in the Balkans. It still hosts nearly a dozen museums, including the Museum of the Old Orthodox Church, the Museum of Young Bosnia, the State Museum, and the Museum of the City of Sarajevo, as well as Bosnia's National Museum. In the provinces are the Museum of the National Struggle for Liberation in Jajce and the Museum of Hercegovina in Mostar.

The new constitution signed in Dayton, Ohio, on 21 November 1995, provides for freedom of speech and the press. However, the extreme ethnic segregation in various regions is reported to put the media in each area under considerable regional restrictions. The development of independent media is beginning to be implemented, through the sponsorship of private organizations, cultural societies, and political parties, along with Western aid organizations.

Due to recent government instabilities, statistics on media availability are difficult to maintain and so are subject to a wide margin of error. As of 1997, there were estimated to be over 303,000 main line telephones in use and 9,000 mobile cellular phones. In general, the telephone and telegraph network is in need of modernization and expansion. Service in many urban centers is said to be below the level of other former Yugoslav republics. As of 1999, there were 8 AM and 16 FM radios stations. In 1995, there were 33 television stations. In 1997 there were 248 radios and 41 television sets per 1,000 people. Most broadcasts are in Serbo-Croatian

In Sarajevo, the daily newspaper Oslobodjenje ( Liberation ) managed to publish continuously throughout the siege of that city despite power and phone line outages, newsprint shortages, and direct attacks on its offices. Founded in 1943 as a Nazi resistance publication, Oslobodjenje , which is published in Serbo-Croatian, had a circulation of 56,000 in 2002. In 1993, two of its editors received international recognition from the World Press Review.

Online access is extremely limited. In 2000, there were 3 Internet service providers serving only about 3,500 Internet users.

The constitution signed in Dayton, Ohio, on 21 November 1995, provides for freedom of speech and the press. However, the extreme ethnic segregation in various regions is reported to put the media in each area under considerable regional restrictions. The development of independent media is beginning to be implemented, through the sponsorship of private organizations, cultural societies, and political parties, along with Western aid organizations.

There is a chronic housing shortage in Bosnia and Herzegovina, since a majority of all homes, and even a few entire towns, were destroyed during the civil war from 1992–1995. Over two million people were forced from their homes druing that time. With the help of international assistance programs, only about half of the nation's refugees and displaced residents were able to return to there homes by 2001. Many existing homes are still in serious need of repair and utilities are not always avaialble.

Before the Bosnian war of the early 1990s, the area covered by present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina had 641 primary and 243 secondary schools. By 1996, these totals had been reduced to 270 primary and 141 secondary schools. There were fewer than 200,000 primary pupils, taught by 8,000 teachers, and 65,500 secondary students, with 4,100 teachers.

Education is administered by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. Each of the country's ten cantons also has its own education ministry. Education at the elementary level is free and compulsory for eight years. At the secondary level, children have the option to take up general education (gymnasium), vocational, or technical. General secondary lasts for four years and qualifies the students for university education. In 2001 the government began a modernization program for primary and secondary education, covering curriculum, special needs education, in-service teacher training, and other areas.

There are four main universities: the University of Banja Luka (founded in 1975); the University of Mostar (founded in 1977); the University of Tuzla (founded in 1976); and the University of Sarajevo (founded in 1949), which offers programs in the social sciences, humanities, sciences, medicine, law, and engineering.

Social welfare systems have been in crisis since the wars of the 1990s. International efforts are in place to shift from humanitarian aid to a sustainable social welfare system. There is also an effort to reformulate disability pensions.

In both the Bosnian and Serb entities, the extent of legal and social discrimination against women varies by region. Women in urban areas pursue professional careers in such areas as law, medicine, and academia, while their rural counterparts are often relegated to the margins of public life. Violence against women remains underreported and there are accounts of police inaction in domestic situations. Maternity benefits are not always paid, and pregnant women and new mothers are recurrently dismissed without cause. Trafficking of women remains a significant problem.

All sides were guilty of human rights atrocities in the war and its aftermath. By 1995, it was estimated that up to two-thirds of the country's prewar population have become refugees or displaced persons. Women were targeted for cruel treatment during the war, and Serb forces systematically used rape as a tool to accelerate ethnic cleansing. The worst single incident of genocide in Europe since World War II occurred in the Bosnian "safe haven" of Srebrenica in 1995. Over 7,000 people are missing from Srebrenica, and are presumed dead.

Human rights abuses have continued in the political entities established by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords. Discrimination and harassment of minority ethnic groups remain an huge problem in all regions. There are widespread reports of police brutality and corruption, and prison standards are poor.

There were over 200,000 war-related deaths in the 1990s (120,000 in 1992 alone) and many Bosnians were permanently disabled. Besides causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries, the Bosnian war destroyed much of the health care infrastructure. Many hospitals were destroyed and infant mortality rates increased.

The total fertility rate, 4.0 in 1960, dropped to 1.6 in 2000. In the same year, average life expectancy was 73. In 2002 the birth rate was estimated at 13 per 1,000 people and the death rate was 8 per 1,000. The infant mortality rate was 13 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000. In 1999, an estimated 83% of children under one had a measles vaccination and 90% of children were immunized for diphtheria. In 1999, there were 87 cases of tuberculosis per 100,000 people.

Salaries for health care providers are low, and medical equipment is outdated (20 years old on average). As of 1999, there were an estimated 1.4 physicians and 3.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people. In the same year, outpatient visits averaged 2.7 per person. Primary care is provided through health centers ( dom zdravlyas ) and outpatient branches called ambulantas. As of 1999 there were 87 dom zdravlyas in the Bosnian Federation, staffed by general practitioners and nurses, providing primary care, preventive care, health education, and rehabilitation. Among the secondary and tertiary care facilities in the Republika Srpska is one in Banja Luka that has 1,327 beds and one in Sarajevo with 776 beds. The country has five medical schools. As of 1999 public, health expenditure was estimated at 8% of GDP.

As of 1999, HIV prevalence was 0.04 per 100 adults.

Private investment plummeted during the civil war, when UN sanctions were in force. The conclusion of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995 brought positive changes in the investment climate. In May 1998, a law on foreign direct investment (FDI) was passed and in June 1998, a law on privatization. While privatization of small and medium enterprises made good progress, the state of larger strategic firms has progressed more slowly. As of spring 2002, only 7 of 138 large state-owned enterprises had been sold and only 35% of the economy had been privatized. The largest foreign sale was the Zenica Steel Mill, which became the BH Steel Company in a joint venture with Kuwait Consulting and Investment Company (KCIC) in which both sides put up $60 million (KCIC paid $12 million in 1999 and took over $48 million of debt).

In 1997, only $1 million of FDI flowed into Bosnia and Herzegovina, but this jumped to $54.6 million in 1998 and then to $148.8 million in 1999. A decline occurred in 2001 to $131.5 million (when riots broke out in two Republika Srpska towns over the rebuilding of mosques), but the numbers recovered to $164 million. The overwhelming majority of foreign investment into Bosnia and Herzegovina comes from aid groups and international financial institutions.

From 1994 to 2002, over half (55.5%) of FDI was in manufacturing, thanks primarily to the BH Steel Company venture. Banking has received 16.5% (mainly from Dubai, Austria and Croatia); services, 6.8%; trade, 6.2%; transport, 0.9%; and tourism, 0.7% (although bids were being requested on the Sarajevo Holiday Inn in summer, 2003). The following chart lists the amount of FDI inflow from the leading sources 1994– 2002: Croatia, $124 million; Kuwait, $117 million; Slovenia, $99 million; Germany, $92 million; Austria, $92 million; Serbia and Montenegro, $69 million; Netherlands, $62 million; Switzerland, $48 million.