29 thousand citizens released Kosovo for one year

The largest number has emigrated legally, but they have not lacked illegal immigration either.

In the score of “Kosovo Resolution 2018<18x1>, published by the Kosovo Statistics Agency, it is said that despite the positive natural growth of the population of 18,562, due to migrations, the total population population in Kosovo for 2018 has seen decline.

Kosovo's resident population, for January 01st,31 December 2018, was reduced to 2,840 or 0.16 per cent. The number of people in Kosovo for 2018 is estimated to be 1,795,666 residents.

Representatives of civil society in Kosovo claim that increasing the number of citizens who are abandoning Kosovo comes from their disappointment with the political situation and local leadership.

Taulant Kryeziu from the Kosovo Institute for European Policy (EPIK) tells Radio Free Europe that the current situation regarding migration is disturbing. For this reason, he underscores, there must be reflection from the central and local government in Kosovo. The greatest danger in this situation, according to him, is that intellectual people, who have jobs, are also leaving Kosovo.

“This social depression that is existing in Kosovo as a result of the ill-governance of this ruling coalition, this overwhelming hope being made to the new generation, who are seeing that it is not a society that exists and wins the best, but in key institutions people who must have preliminary approval of political parties are killing the hope of youth, generation, which should have on their shoulders the European future of the Republic of Kosovo”, Kryeziu points out.

In the KSF report, legal migration was reportedly due to the family union, marriages, finding a job, permanent deportation (mostly in neighbouring states), long-term employment studies, etc.

The desire to emigrate to European countries - whether for schooling, employment, or even temporary exile - is expressed by some youths.

Leonora Krasniqi, has two faculties, the Albanian Language and Literature and the Psychological one. It shows that it has sometimes applied to various public sector contests for a job in its profession, but has failed to ensure it. So if she gets a chance, she says she'd go to some Western country to get a job.

I have applied to many jobs so far and have not been given any opportunity to exercise my profession in Kosovo. And that's why I in the future think about leaving Kosovo and going somewhere else and practicing my”, Krasniqi says.

Kosovo is the only country in the Western Balkan region, to which the European Union (BE) applies the visa regime. Kosovo citizens to travel to these countries must apply for visas to diplomatic missions of the member states of the European Union accredited in Kosovo and the countries of the region.

Union of Independent Kosovo officials have mentioned that the economic situation and high unemployment rates are the main reasons young people are forcing them to abandon Kosovo.

The country's unemployment rate according to official figures is 26.9 percent.