Depopulation/ Why are young Albanians emigrating?

2023-08-18 09:37:00, Opinione Ardi Stefa

What country can be optimistic about its future when young people turn their backs and decide to leave?

Unfortunately, after the mass emigration at the beginning of the 90s to Europe, even to Australia, mainly from a moderately educated or uneducated part; these last 10 years, for the second time in its modern history, Albania is facing a massive wave of emigration of its youth.

And not only. This time, it is no longer the uneducated, the manual workers, who were the first wave of immigrants, but the excellence, the well-educated young people, who have a vision or even dreams for the future. They are mainly those who wish to study medicine, engineering and IT.

According to some figures, 20% of adults (280,000 in the total population) have decided to leave, in these 10 years 2013-2023 over 110,000 excellent graduates have applied to study in universities outside Albania. (Most of them will not even return to Albania. 50% of parents are already or will face the departure of their children, while 63% of the young people who leave have gone abroad and 30% migrate within Albania.

Likewise, the percentage of parents who send their children abroad for studies and prepare to follow them, regardless of a good lifestyle and a certain well-being they have here, keeps increasing, making the problem even more acute. The largest percentage is in rural areas, followed by semi-urban areas and finally urban areas.

Difficulty, lack of perspective, financial difficulties and unemployment in the profile of the three studies have been identified as the main causes.

Studies show that despite the quality of education in Albania, "the new generation has the highest level of education compared to previous generations (despite the brain drain abroad) and at the same time has the highest rates of unemployment both in terms of older ages than in other EU countries", while the spectacular decline of the youth labor force as well as the departure abroad of highly qualified young people is at worrying levels.

If we think about what are the basic conditions for our youth to create, live and prosper, we will discover that this government has left nothing behind!

When young people have to face the high cost of basic living needs, unaffordable rents and the work jungle with few jobs, insufficient wages, minimal insurance even for those sectors that should have equal insurance as in the state (eg teachers in private schools) flexible hours, unpaid overtime, the dissolution of freedoms recognized by "law", it is certain that they have no guaranteed basis to make plans, dreams, families.

The production and economic system of our country does not offer a sufficient number of highly qualified jobs. And if some of our youth survive with the help of their families and are crushed by the harsh reality, then they have to face a host of problems related to health, education, invalidity, curtailment of democratic freedoms, corruption and decay in maximum, the state levels, the disproportionate brutality of the police as well as the serious issue of individual and collective security.

Uncertainty in the health sector with a very expensive free health care . Education with thousands of problems not only from the quality, but also from the texts, but also from the security it gives to young people to invest their knowledge in Albania. Private education turned into a business, with teachers being mistreated in salaries, bonuses and insurance, as if they were manual workers, in violation of the law. And the state sees this and does not intervene, allowing fiscal evasion.

The reduction of university funding, the arbitrary adoption of an anti-democratic law that requires "young doctors" to stay in Albania for 5 lives after completing their studies. Pushing students on purpose and as a clientelistic law towards private universities, where the rulers and legislators are 100% shareholders and owners.

Employment in key positions of the military and patron Nazis, with dubious qualifications or without qualifications, or appointments in the public sector with non-transparent procedures. Our young people think that they do not live in a free, normal, democratic country because the media are the mouthpieces of the government, the opposition, which should be their voice, fights with itself, the country does not have pluralism, public opinion is manipulated with lies, scandals follow one another. the other; The "strong" ones do whatever they want and not a single thorn gets in their side.

Young people see their peers work for a few months in bar houses in Spain and England and come back millionaires, drive around with expensive cars, pockets full of beautiful girls.

And their hope dies. Every day we learn about some scandal related to the corruption of public officials, the violation of the law when it comes to individuals, the support of dirty circles. The country's image is slipping internationally.

Transparency International pushes us lower and lower in its ranking, showing a dangerous slide towards authoritarianism.

And our young people have lost the nerve of protest, because the nerve of hope has died, as they see impunity in the apotheosis and in the apotheosis the system of false values ??and the lack of hope.

Albania literally and figuratively "eats" its children. Unemployment, poverty, lack of hope, bleak outlook, rampant corruption, arrogance prove that the government cannot guarantee even the minimum security of its citizens.

Unfortunately, our youth does not turn the fear they feel into anger and revolt. She feels abandoned by everyone. From parents, the state, society, the position of the opposition.

Then, why should they stay in Albania?

As parents, as teachers, as adults, in all these years we failed to show them with our struggles that we want to be their fellow travelers and give them the opportunity with our vote for a progressive society and government that will give them the incentives and the social security framework they need.

We failed to be committed to cracking down on corruption and arbitrariness;

We failed to fight for the increase of the minimum wage, to strengthen professionals, to recover dignified work, to create more new jobs and good pay, to motivate young people.

We failed to respond to the country's serious demographic problem with support for mother and child and a new housing policy for young couples.

We failed in the health system, to have specialist doctors here, and not to sell the house for a simple private operation. We failed to pay the doctors and nurses with good salaries and to strengthen the medical infrastructure.

We failed to build an education system of the future, suitable for a modern developed country with an emphasis on preparing for the new digital age and dealing with a rapidly changing world.

We failed in building a fair state for corruption and bribery, we failed in creating citizen-state trust with a fair, strong and efficient state.

We failed in establishing a new, impartial and true justice, which was not a servant of crime and was paid by crime.

We failed to consider and treat our culture and tradition as the highest element of our identity. We failed to understand that public goods like water will belong to society.

We failed to understand that our struggle and efforts are for our children, for a country that will embrace them, respect them and offer them the horizon of plans and dreams.

That is why our youth leave Albania and we, despite the rhetoric, are unable to stop them. We will simply keep our heads down for many, many years!/ CNA