The departure of young people, but older as well, from the Balkan countries to the economically highly developed countries of Western Europe has been one of the biggest problems facing all countries in the region in recent years.
Although precise official data from state institutions on this crucial social issue are still lacking, it has long since become clear that this is a worrying demographic trend, Radio Sarajevo reports.
According to unofficial data and estimates of domestic and international organizations, almost every country in the Balkans is annually left without a population of size of a smaller city.
According to the Union for Sustainable Return of BiH, there has been a steady increase in departures from BiH over the last six years.
Since 2013, more than 200,000 people have left Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is worrying that in 2019 alone, BiH has left most people so far, about 60,000, while in 2018 about 40,000 people left the country. These data show that in the past two years, approximately 50,000 persons emigrated from BiH abroad.
Serbia is facing a similar demographic problem, and according to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), has left around 654,000 people, most of them between 15 and 24, from the beginning of this century to the end of 2018. years.
Eurostat figures also show that 51,000 people left Serbia for better work in the EU in 2018.
