EMIGRATION FROM SERBIA AND DEPOPULATION

In Serbia, one of the Western Balkan countries, emigration from the country continues at a high level while immigration to the country has been small. Concomitantly, a decline in population and depopulation in the rural areas continues. This paper aims to grasp how the mechanism of persisting rapid emigration was formed historically. The paper is constructed as follows: Section 2 will give an overview of the Serbian economy after the Second World War, Section 3 will give an overview of the Serbian economy after the system change in 1990, and Section 4 will discuss actual situations of emigration and related problems. Section 5 examines problems of ‘brain drain’ focusing on the area of medical care, and Section 6 examines challenges the country has to tackle. Finally, the paper concludes by stressing the importance of human capital and the necessity for promotion of return migration of highly-skilled Serbian workers living in advanced EU member states.