Der Spiegel: Kosovo has lost about 12 per cent of its population in 13 years

Many German media have reported after publishing official census results from the Kosovo Statistics Agency. Among them is the prestigious Der Spiegel magazine.

The prestigious German magazine Der Spiegel,has written that people are leaving Kosovo. The reasons for this are the best job opportunities in European countries. The growing tension between Serbs and Albanians is affecting people's departure.

“This Balkan country is suffering from a massive ecstasy of people who are looking for work abroad”, points out Der Spiegel, while adds that “based on official estimates, more than 800,000 Kosovars live and work in EU countries, while about half live in Germany”, writes Der Spiegel, Radio Kosova reports.

According to official census results published Thursday by the State Statistics Agency, Kosovo has lost almost twelve percent of its population to 13 years”, the report notes.

While 1.8 million people lived in the Balkan state in 2011, there are currently only 1.6 million, Kosovo's Statistics Agency announced on Thursday.

The article points out that “Albanians make up about 90 percent of the population, while ethnic Serbs make up slightly more than three percent”.

Based on data from the Kosovo Statistics Agency, Der Spiegel writes that <x0-information for Serbs is based on rough estimates, as many of them have boycotted the body's” census.

In general, censuses in many Balkan countries are a delicate issue, estimates Der Spiegel.

The birth rate, mass migration, and ethnic tensions make it difficult to determine the exact numbers of the population”, the article notes.

Kosovo, in majority Albanian, has declared independence from Serbia in 2008. However, official Belgrade has not yet recognised it as a state, while in northern Kosovo there are still repeated conflicts with the Serb minority living there”, concludes Der Spiegl.