Value of people - human capital in Serbia through the prism of educational attainment of young population

Human capital is an important determinant of individual and overall socio-economic development. In addition to economic parameters, human capital is significantly influenced by the level of formal and informal education attained. Previous research in this area has focused on formal education and the skills acquired concerning better positioning in the labor market. Accordingly, the main objective of the conducted research is to determine the state and level of educational attainment as prerequisite for the developm ent of human capital in Serbia. This analysis is based on a set of indicators that represent the achieved educational attainment with special focus on the young population. It is conducted for the territory of Serbia, on municipal level, which enabled the categorization of municipalities according to educational attainment. Most municipalities in Serbia are characterized by insufficient educational attainment in the local context, or in general. For the purpose of the regional disparities identification, the coefficient of human capital utilization was created, in order to identify the mismatch between education attainment and labor market demand. The research shows that it is crucial to change the general perception of demographic problems and challenges, which will allow the development of applicable and more realistic public policies in the future.