Forty thousand citizens have given up on Kosovo since 2008

According to data from the past four years, on average a year from Kosovo's substate, more than 5,000 thousand citizens have been released. The substate release trend has marked rising by 2014.

In 2014, 5,158 people have abandoned Kosovo's substatement, and in 2016 this number has scored an increase of 5,871.

Rrexana Charles, director of the office for public communication, says the largest number of those who have lost citizenship in the Republic of Kosovo, come from Kosovo citizens living in Germany.

The top “Artyet to give up citizenship is obtaining citizenship from any other European Union country, which does not allow for dual citizenship for citizens who are not citizens of the European Union. So, as you can see, it's about citizens of the Republic of Kosovo who live in different states of the European Union who have been living there for a long time and complying with the legal conditions for obtaining the citizenship of that country”, says Charles.

Representatives of civil society in Kosovo consider that one of the reasons for the release of citizens from Kosovo's substate and the taking of citizenship of another state, in addition, is the impasse that has marked the country's overall development, in particular economic development.

Isuf Zamena, from the organisation “Democracy Plus”, in a proposal for Radio Free Europe says the release of Kosovo citizens from the substate and citizenship of another country is not a good thing happening to the state.

“This comes as a result of the great migration we have in Kosovo, due to economic inconsistencies, our citizens constantly seek to find jobs and be dislocated by their native country and seek prosperity in Western European states. A number of these states, such as Germany's case, do not grant citizenship to Kosovo citizens without giving up Kosovo's citizenship. As a result, citizens are forced to give up Kosovo's substate”, Zeynep points out.

Guilty for all of this, Ferrie adds, is the general society of Kosovo, which, he says, has failed to create a developed economy that provides the best welfare for citizens.

He says that the number of Kosovo citizens living in different parts of the world, which will give up their country's substate, can increase in the future, because the opportunities they offer to state where they live, are far greater than Kosovo offers them.

Large economies can offer better conditions to these people than to Kosovo. Today you can be the best surgeon in Kosovo, but you don't have a very big perspective, the wages are low, there are no benefits, on the other hand the states of Western Europe offer ten times the pay they receive (the surgeons) in Kosovo, and other benefits that Kosovo is unfortunately non-competitive to meet this trend of displacement of the people, in particular to the qualified”, explains Zeynep.

According to data from the Ministry of Diaspora in the Government of Kosovo, there are about 400,000 citizens living in different countries of Europe and the world. These are the results of the diaspora registration under the “project you are part of the country's”, published in last year.

According to these results, the largest number of Kosovo citizens live in Germany, Switzerland, then Italy, Sweden and Canada.

The number of Kosovo citizens living in different parts of the world is considered to be even greater. The diaspora's final record is expected to be released in 2021, as the electronic record still active is completed.