Youth brain drain is becoming a worrisome problem for the Western Balkan countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia.
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00:00Youth brain drain is one of the most worrisome problems for the Western Balkans.
00:09Estimations predict countries like Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North
00:15Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia could lose between 25% and 50% of their skilled and educated
00:23young citizens in the next few decades.
00:28The main reason for the immigration is the disappointment with the high level of corruption
00:32of the institution and the absence of opportunities and perspectives.
00:38North Macedonian students might receive a scholarship from their ministry of education,
00:42but when they complete their course and return home, they say they find no one interested
00:47in their knowledge, which makes them want to leave the country.
00:52State itself is dysfunctional.
00:54You don't see any future.
00:55You still see the corrupt institutions.
00:57You still do not see any rule of law.
00:59You do not see any improvement in terms of economy or education.
01:02That's the first thing.
01:03The second thing is our place into the international community, specifically to the European Union.
01:10When one cannot see that the European Union is closed, that it's far, it's just as it
01:15was 10 years ago, one asks this question, is there a future in this country and what
01:19is my place here?
01:22The ministry of education spends millions on scholarships, but doesn't have evidence
01:26on whether students are coming back home.
01:31The ministry does not have evidence which students are finishing their university degrees
01:40abroad and are they coming back here in Macedonia.
01:46Those who leave the region struggle to find the incentive to return home with the knowledge
01:50acquired abroad.
01:53Macedonia is still quite isolated from the European Union and the European values.
02:00So coming back to Macedonia, it will be quite challenging, quite difficult to deal with
02:06the current reality.
02:08Countries in the Western Balkans are rapidly losing their population.
02:11In the last three decades, emigration meant Serbia lost 9% of its citizens, North Macedonia
02:1710%, Bosnia and Herzegovina 24% and Albania 37%.