Balkan states emigrating fast

As reported by The Independent, over 20 years after communism’s fall, the wealth gap between eastern and western Europe continues, and nations from the Baltic to the Black Sea are seeing people emigrate at an alarming rate.

While membership with the EU has brought some prosperity to many people, it has also made it increasingly easier to emigrate, attracting young people from the east to leave behind an ever aging and poorer population.

Romania, which has a mean monthly salary of €350 (£290), is amongst the worst affected, as it sees a 12% population drop in ten years. Latvia also lost 13% of its people mainly to emigration. Both nations have had to pass harsh austerity measures.

In comparatively wealthier nations such as Poland and the Czech Republic, the population has remained steady, due to returning emigrants as well as those arriving from poorer states. However, in the Balkans, the picture is grim.

Censuses from 2011 showed Lithuania had lost 12% of its population since 2001, Bulgaria 7% and Serbia 5%. Hungary’s population was 10.4 million right after communism’s fall in 1989, but this slipped below 10 million people in 2011.