Primary Energy Consumption

In this data context, energy refers to primary energy using the substitution method. Primary energy is the energy available as resources before it has been transformed. It includes energy that the end user needs, in the form of electricity, transport and heating, plus inefficiencies.

Scale: Measured in kilowatt-hours per person.            

Direction of Change

ENERGY CONSUMPTION ROSE OVER THREE DECADES, WITH STRONG GROWTH AFTER 2010

Primary energy consumption per capita in Bosnia and Herzegovina shows a long-term upward trend from 1995 to 2023, but with a distinctive three-phase pattern. The late 1990s began with a sharp drop from the 1995 starting point, followed by a period of partial recovery and stabilisation across the early 2000s. After 2005, levels settled into a relatively narrow band before shifting into a more dynamic upward trajectory from around 2010 onwards. This post-2010 period marks the most consistent expansion, with several years of steady increases punctuated by short dips. Growth accelerates significantly after 2018, reaching the highest recorded values in 2023. Taken together, the pattern shows modest early volatility giving way to sustained, long-term increases in per-capita energy use.

Global Rank

Compared with all geographic entities listed in the Index

Note: Population-weighted averages for Europe and the world.

Regional Rank

Compared with six former Yugoslav countries and Albania

Note: In 1995, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo were part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

1995 (highest → lowest): Slovenia, Kosovo/Montenegro/Serbia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania.

2023 (highest → lowest): Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania.

Conclusion

Energy use per person has steadily increased, and by 2023, Bosnia and Herzegovina will consume significantly more primary energy per capita than at any point since the mid-1990s, marking a long arc of economic normalisation, infrastructural expansion, and rising household and industrial demand.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (2025); Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2025); Population based on various sources (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.