Marina Stevanov is leaving home. The 25-year-old Serbian doctor is packing her diploma and medical books. She’ll head to Austria, where a hospital has offered to train her in vascular surgery. Like Stevanov, thousands of educated young adults are leaving their native countries.
They’re part of a phenomenon called “brain drain,” and it’s rampant in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Brain drain occurs when the skilled workforce of one country moves to another. Talented Balkan workers, especially in healthcare, leave seeking higher salaries, cutting-edge technology, and better living conditions.
Up-and-coming scientists, researchers, and lawyers should be the future of countries like Serbia. But joblessness, low wages, corruption, and limited opportunities are the norm, so workers emigrate. The choice may benefit them—but it harms the countries left behind.
“My colleagues . . . are not satisfied,” Stevanov says of Serbian healthcare professionals. “That’s a big problem.”
Tens of thousands of educated people relocate yearly from Serbia. The exact numbers aren’t known—most emigrants don’t report to authorities. Yet Serbia has done little to stop the outflow except for making patriotic appeals.
“I’m begging you to stay in our beautiful Serbia,” the country’s President Aleksandar Vucic occasionally pleads.
In neighboring Croatia, experts estimate about 80,000 Croats leave the country every year. Most are young. “Something has to be done to stop this emptying,” Zagreb University Professor Stjepan Sterc says.
Entrepreneur Mersudin Mahmutbegovic’s business helps Bosnians find work outside of Bosnia. She claims her government does nothing to retain professionals or create jobs.
“They complain that there will be no one left to . . . take care of patients in Bosnia, but it never occurs to them that they should do something to encourage people to stay,” she says.
Law school graduate Nadina Redzic obtained her law degree five years ago. She applied for jobs in Bosnia but received hardly any responses. Now Redzic has decided to train to be a nurse in Germany. Once she leaves, she won’t go back. “I would never return other than for a short visit to see my family,” she says. “I want to live in a society that appreciates my hard work.”
Would you leave your homeland for a better opportunity elsewhere? Perhaps Redzic has a point. God created humans to be motivated by reward. “In all toil, there is profit.” (Proverbs 14:23) “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” (Matthew 5:12) Failure to recognize God’s design never works.
