Eurostat: Nearly 230,000 People from the Balkans Have Moved to the EU

Last year, 228,000 citizens of the Western Balkans moved to European Union countries. This is shown by data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), Macedonian news agency Makfax reports.

In 2018, 51,000 people left Serbia, Albania - 62,000, Bosnia and Herzegovina - 55,300, Kosovo - 34,500, 24,300 from northern Macedonia and 3,000 from Montenegro. From northern Macedonia, the largest group is now established in Germany (11,500), followed by Italy and Slovenia.

Most Albanians who left their homeland have moved to Italy (23,000), Greece (17,000) and Germany (10,000). Most people go to Germany (16,000), Slovenia and Croatia. The preferences of the Serbs are the same - Germany (16,000), followed by Slovenia with 5,100 and Croatia and Slovakia with 4,900.

Nearly 19,000 citizens of Kosovo also came to Israel for their new home. Slovenia and Italy follow.

In terms of population, Albania, a country with a population of about 2.8 million, is the largest. Leaving 62,000 people is equivalent to about 2.2% of the total population.

According to statistics, the number of departures from Macedonia is 2.1% of the total population, from Kosovo - 2%, from BiH - 1.5%, and from Serbia - 1.3%.