Past and Current Trends of Balkan Migrations

Abstract

We provide a general overview of international migrations trends in the Balkans since the end of World War II. We take into account the Balkan countries that have experienced “real socialism”, and the most radical and interesting changes in migration trends of the last fifteen years. We highlight the internal differences in the Balkans as regards migration trends prior and after the upheavals of the 1990s. Up to the 1990s international migration in the area can be mainly attributed to ethnic migration and, in case of the former Yugoslavia, to labour migration. During the last decade three kinds of novelties emerged :- first, migration involved all the countries of the region;- second, the migration types differed markedly from the traditional ones, with the forced migrations playing a prominent role and the proliferation of new types of illegal migration;- third, a larger number of destination countries in Europe has been involved in the flows from the Balkan peninsula.Currently, there are various factors that could contribute to the further development of the mobility of the population in the region. The most obvious factors regard the serious economic imbalance between the majority of the Balkan countries and the nearby countries of the European Union that represent the most important point of attraction. Future migration dynamics in the Balkans heavily depend on the more general political and social development and stability in the region.

Keywords

• Balkan
• international migrations