Population structure changing in Kosovo

According to Statistics Agency data, since 2014, Kosovo has registered a decline in nightland for almost every year.

In 2014 the number of live births was 25,929. In 2019 there were recorded 21,798 vivid births, and in 2020, é 18,88. The increase was only last year, when 28,549 were registered.

On the other hand, according to a document published by the Government Authority for Migration, for the period 2018-2020, Kosovo has emigrated 71,799 people.

The Kosovo Statistics Agency project for 2011-2061 shows that 2034 is expected to be the year when Kosovo will start facing depopulation as a demographic problem, which from decades to decades will steadily deepen.

Social factors

In a Radio Free Europe poll conducted in Pristina, women and men single out economic conditions as one of the main factors affecting the decision of young parents to have fewer children.

Ismet Arifi, a 64-year-old lawyer from Podujevo, says parents of younger generations want better standards for their children.

“Disemployment... requires a better standard... cannot meet the terms”, are the reasons Arifi thinks lead to less birth.

Elmina Osmani, 42-year-old from Pristina, a mother of a 15-year-old child, says external factors affect the decision to have more or less children.

It's the dynamism of life to impose on you not having too many children. Over the years, I've seen that it takes a lot of work to raise a child, and I'm going to have to do it”, says Elmina, a journalist by profession.

Adding that her mother has given birth to three children, she says she feels fulfilled with only one.

Experts of sociologist and anthropology link the decline of nightiness in Kosovo with, they say, the social and economic changes society has undergone in recent years.

Nita Luci, a professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Pristina, says that economic security and the emancipation of women are among the main factors affecting parents' decision to have fewer children.

Kosovo, over the years, has had high nightiness, and this has been because “we have been more agrarian society; this has affected the way the family has been structured”, says Luci.

The work of women at home is seen as natural, while it is now treated differently”, she adds.

According to Luci, society today is oriented towards profit, while more difficult to balance with more children with two full - time parents.

According to Statistics Agency data, the unemployment rate in Kosovo is above 25 percent, while employment in women is about 15%.

Tahir Latifi, professor at the Department of Anthropology, says that the post-war, economic and political transformations of 1998-99 “have also naturally affected the family structure, and therefore the demographic transition”.

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The number of students rises in school

Kosovo schools have remained with more than 9,000 less students in the last school year. These are the figures of students and teachers in primary, lower, and middle middle education.

He adds that social policies promoting employment, related to employment, are needed in Kosovo, respectively, that “does not endanger the career of women”.

According to Demeographer Mimoza Dushi, falling birth rates are normal trends in the face of social development.

It is very true that the fertility rate has begun to decline in Kosovo, just as in other countries in the region and beyond”, says Dushi.

She adds that changes in the scale of nightliness will have an impact on Kosovo's demographic development.

The average population age will rise and in the future will increase the demographic age rate. But it's all in line with [Social] factors and developments. They influence and develop each other”, says Dushi.

The population of Kosovo, currently, is considered relatively new at an average age of 35.

Migrating Factor

According to the Kosovo Statistics Agency figures in January 2021, the overall resident population in Kosovo has been 1,798,88 people.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2013-2017, on average a year have emigrated up to 35 thousand Kosovo citizens.

According to research by the Institute for Development Policy (INDEP), published in 2021, migration has largely caused economic conditions.

The key <x0 causes, which have forced the population to emigrate, were and remain: the low level of economic development, the destructions of wars, and the unfriendly political situation”, it says in research.

According to this research, based on the projections of the Kosovo Statistics Agency for the period 2011-2061, the only population category that will have continued growth in Kosovo will be the age group over 60.

According to 2011, in 2031 this age group will grow to 185,197 persons (109.1%), meaning it will double”, it says in research.

According to INDEP, the situation with the decline and aging of the population “is so unfavourable that it can also be defined as demographic crisis”.

The last census in Kosovo was conducted in 2011, while the census, due to 2021, was postponed due to the coronary pandemic.

According to the 2011 census, the average number of a domestic family economy was 5.9.

The Kosovo government has not responded to Radio Europe's free question about when the next census is provided.