58 %s young people would leave Kosovo in the next three years, according to EPIK

The EPIK Institute in the next publication addresses recent developments regarding the migration of Kosovo citizens towards the EU, where it says that in 2008-2018, a total of 203,330 Kosovo citizens have fled Kosovo and have applied for asylum in the European Union (BE). During that time, 141,330 Kosovo citizens were also illegally found present in the EU.

The EPIK Institute says, however, that since 2016, Kosovo has seen a significant decline in both the number of asylum requests and the number of Kosovo citizens illegally found present in the EU.

“actually, the year 2018 was the best trend year in both categories. However, these two data represent 344,660 Kosovo citizens who have decided to leave Kosovo and seek a better life in the EU. In other words, nearly 20% or 1/5 of Kosovo's population has fled Kosovo. Moreover, this data is even more dramatic if the number of Kosovo citizens who have migrated to the EU through other legal routes, such as work permits, is added. The main reasons Kosovo citizens push towards the decision to leave the country are found in citizens' dissatisfaction with the political and economic situation in the country, as well as their pessimistic expectations for Kosovo's future. According to the UNDP's latest public pulse, 1/3 of Kosovo's youth consider that Kosovo's future is on the wrong track. 73.5% of young people do not have or have much without expectations that they will find jobs in the next six months. 48% of young people do not believe the political and economic situation will improve”, the communique says.

According to this institute, young people view migration as their only option in this context.

“85% of young people would consider migration in the next three years. On the other hand, only 17.9% would not consider migration an option”, the communique said.