Auf Wiedersehen: German Schools Profit From Bosnia’s Emigration Fever

Today, she works in a local betting shop in Tuzla. In hindsight, she regrets that her parents came back to their Bosnian homeland. "I believe that if they'd known in the mid-1990s that they would be worse off today, they wouldn't have done it," she says.

"They came back because they love their home town - their people. I do, too, but unfortunately, I want to go where I will have a better life."

She adds: "It's not just about the work or the low income… It is unbearable, listening to the nationalistic stories in this region, the false promises, the threats of war and separation. That is all our politicians know, and that is how they get rich, while young people leave."

Exodus without end in sight:

Sabina Skenderovic, study coordinator at the Big Ben Centre. Photo: Facebook

Danijela and Nedim are just two of thousands of people in Bosnia learning German and planning to leave Bosnia soon.

With a desperate lack of opportunities in their own country, many other talented young people have emigrated, or plan to do so. The booming industry in foreign language courses bears that out.

About 186,000 people have left Bosnia since 2013. Over these six years, the country has lost a population equivalent to the number of people who live in the major northwestern city of Banja Luka, according to the Union for Sustainable Return and Integrations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2019 alone, from January to September, about 30,000 people left Bosnia and Herzegovina, data from the same organisation show.

Data from UNICEF surveys in Bosnia are just as concerning, as they suggest that many youngsters intend to take the same path as soon as they grow old enough.

According to a UN survey conducted this summer,...