More than 142,000 citizens left Kosovo during the four years of Kurti’s government

From 2021 to 2024, more than 142,000 citizens left Kosovo and moved to more developed countries in search of a better life, which remains the dominant reason driving the wave of mass emigration, Demokracia reports.

Since Kurti took office for the second time, a total of 142,976 citizens have emigrated from Kosovo, while only 29,675 have returned.

The mass exodus from Kosovo, which holds the “grim title” of having the lowest per capita income in Europe, is mainly the result of two factors: unemployment and the cost-of-living crisis. These factors are also indirectly linked to other reasons, such as family reunification.

The cost-of-living crisis, lack of real opportunities, and unemployment have been consistently highlighted in international reports as the main drivers of the migration wave from Kosovo.

The year 2021 was the worst in this regard, with 42,728 people leaving Kosovo and only 4,122 returning.

In 2022, emigration remained at a high level – 41,553 people left, while 10,665 returned.

The following year saw a temporary decline, as only 21,244 citizens left Kosovo, while 5,850 moved back.

However, the negative trend returned last year, when 37,451 citizens left Kosovo, and only 9,038 returned.

According to the report “Migration and Economic Development in the Western Balkans: Evidence from Kosovo” by the GAP Institute, Kosovo continues to show a rising emigration trend because the labor market cannot absorb the large number of job seekers.

In this context, Germany appears to be absorbing the highest number of citizens from Kosovo.

The report, based on data from the German Federal Statistical Office for the period from 2010 to 2022, paints a bleak picture of the increasing number of people of Kosovan origin living in Germany and their reasons for emigrating.

The report highlights that the number of citizens of Kosovan origin in Germany nearly doubled from 2010 to 2022.

In Germany, in 2010, there were 291,000 citizens of Kosovan origin, and only 12 years later, that number reached 542,000. This represents a significant increase of 86 percent in just over a decade.