30 June
A panel discussion of the non-governmental organization “Serbia 21” was organized at the Petrus Hotel in Paracin on the topic “Why do young people leave Serbia”. The president of the NGO “Serbia 21” and MP Nenad Konstantinovic, a member of the Fiscal Council of Serbia Vlada Vuckovic and the Secretary-General of the organization “New Concept Paracin” Boris Lukic spoke at the tribune.
A survey conducted by Serbia 21 in July shows that 1.2 million Serbian citizens are considering leaving. Of the total number of those who would like to leave, almost half do not plan to return. Suitcases would like to pack 450,000 young people – 36 %of respondents aged 18 to 29. A better standard and orderly society is the main argument of young people why they want to go to the countries in Europe. Those who stated in the research of the organization Srbija 21, say that they are thinking about leaving, mostly because of state economic reasons.
“First of all, the standard, better salary, the possibility of employment, and a small percentage of them also state an organized state,” Nenad Konstantinović from the organization Srbija 21 told the BBC in Serbian. Similar research was conducted in the diaspora during the summer. 2,200 respondents participated, and 46 % of them stated that they did not plan to return. “When they retire, they plan to return only a third of them, but the key question is- do they see that their children could live in Serbia – 90 % of them answered negative,” says Konstantinović.
Precise data on the current number of Serbian diaspora do not exist. Figures of two or three, up to five million people are mentioned. Those who live abroad have different reasons to stay than those who are just planning to leave. “People who already abroad say that reasons are better perspective, certainty, security, safety, and better orderly state and a system in which they know what to expect. If you have a certain level of education, you know where you can get a job and what your salary will be. In Serbia, when you finish your studies, you don’t know if you will find a job at all, let alone how you will be get paid “, explains Konstantinović.
Boris Lukić said at the tribune that Paraćin has a big problem with the outflow of young highly educated people who either stay to live and work in Belgrade or decide to go abroad with their entire families: “Large outflow of young, mostly highly educated. In the past, in the 70’s, people from the countryside went, mostly to Austria, France, Switzerland, today urban children, and that is mostly Sweden and Stockholm. Thousands of people from Paracin have gone to Sweden in the last ten years. Closed factories, big giants, a huge number of middle-aged people have lost their jobs and have not been able to cope with the new circumstances. ”Lukić concluded.
