International mobility as a development strategy: Kosovo Country Report (English)

Emigration has played an important role throughout Kosovo's history. Calculations based on government figures suggest that the total number of Kosovar emigrants is nearly 800,000.1 This implies that almost one in every three people born in Kosovo lives abroad, placing Kosovo among the top five origin countries with the highest emigration rates in the world.2 Historically, emigration has been driven by both political and economic reasons, but in recent years international mobility has primarily been the result of economic motives. The majority of Kosovar migrants live in the European Union and are primarily low-skilled working age men, although recent estimates for the period 2022-2023 suggest this trend may be changing, with more migrants reporting having tertiary education (20 percent)