Kosovan diaspora
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It has been suggested that Kosovo diaspora be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since March 2013. |
The term Kosovan diaspora refers to the estimated population of people from Kosovo in the world migrated outside of Kosovo. Since Kosovo declared independence only in 2008 and is not recognised by all states, many emigrants from Kosovo do not have a Kosovan passport and appear as Serbian nationals in the statistics of their host countries.
While a limited number of migrant workers emigrated from Kosovo from as early as the 1960s, substantial emigration from Kosovo to Western Europe, especially to Germany and Switzerland, took place during the Yugoslav Wars and the subsequent Kosovo War during the 1990s. The CIA Factbook estimates that payments from the diaspora account for 14% of Kosovo's GNP, or some USD 740 million per year.
In official statistics of Swiss demographics, Kosovans are listed under "former Serbia and Montenegro" as of 2010, since while Switzerland recognises the Republic of Kosovo, only a minority of Kosovans in Switzerland had acquired a Kosovar passport by 2009.
In 1998, the number of people from "Serbia and Montenegro" registered in Switzerland was at 242,000. By 2009, the number had decreased to 187,000, mostly due to naturalizations. Of the 242,000 registered in 1998, an estimated 160,000 to 200,000 were Kosovar Albanians.[1]
The number of Kosovo Albanians in Germany is estimated at about 300,000, in Switzerland at about 200,000 (of which about 40,000 have been naturalized as Swiss citizens). This makes them the third largest immigrant community in Switzerland (following the Italians at ca. 300,000 and the Germans at ca. 225,000), accounting for about 2% of Swiss resident population.
Besides the Albanian majority, there is also a notable minority of Kosovo Roma living in Western Europe. In 2009, German authorities declared their intention to deport 14,000 Kosovars back to Kosovo. Of these, about 10,000 were Roma.[2]
In Switzerland, only about one fifth of the estimated 200,000 Kosovo Albanians entered the country as asylum seekers during the Kosovo War. The majority of those immigrating during the 1990s did not need to apply for asylum as they fell under Swiss legislation for family reunification. The Swiss Federal Office for Migration in 2010 published a study on the Kosovar community in Switzerland.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ albanien.ch
- ^ Tausende Kosovaren vor Abschiebung 14 October 2009.
- A. Maillard and U. Leuenberger, Les damnés du troisième cercle: les Albanais de la Kosove en Suisse 1965-1999, Geneva (1999).
- H.-P. von Aarburg and S. Gretler, Kosova-Schweiz: Die albanische Arbeits- und Asylmigration zwischen Kosovo und der Schweiz (1964-2000), Münster (2008).
- B. Burri Shurani et al., Die kosovarische Bevölkerung in der Schweiz, Federal Office for Migration, Bern (2010).
- B. Xharra and M. Wählisch, Beyond Remittances: Public Diplomacy and Kosovo's Diaspora, Foreign Policy Club, Pristina (2012), http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2108317.
