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I really hate communist. Did you learn anything when your country fell apart. If you want to see what a capitalist country looks like look at Singapore. Broke fishing village that is now the freest economy in the world, has an educated population l, highest per capita home ownership etc. Rwanda has also immulated Singapore and guess what it has come from Genocide to one of the fastest growing countries in the world and one of the safest. You communist will not look at these countries because it does not fit your communist vision. How many times does socialism have to fail for you to realize this???
But did you know the catholic church ran the concentration camps in the Balkans? And that their actions directly lead to the war in the 90s which split up the former countries? I can guarantee they have a hand ub the current state of affairs as well.
Romanian here, got a few things to say: -Romania became a "high-income economy" rather recently, and this status is granted on a per capita basis. There's the silver lining: people leaving actually accelerated Romania's membership in this select club. -Those millions haven't vanished into thin air. They send billions in remittances yearly, and they flock back into the country a few times in the year. Should the government *really* want to, it could lock the borders just in time to seal millions back în. -Romania's fertility rate has been booming. From its low of 1.27 two decades ago, it climbed to 1.77 in 2019. COVID rolled it back to 1.60 but it picked up again: 1.63 in 2021, 1.64 in 2022. It's not all doom and gloom..
@@ZemanTheMighty Most of the developed world sadly. Almost without fail the only countries that are doing okay is because they supplement through immigration. Nowadays anything over 1.5 native birth rate is considered good for a developed economy. The remaining .7 you get from immigration.
Young doctor from Serbia here. I don't want to leave my country, but the very same country doesn't leave me much choice. Getting a job requires strong connections or getting into the ruling party, attending their rallies and having to fork over 10% of your paycheck (which is miserable to begin with) because "the party got you a job". It is also important to say that our healthcare is in the middle of a severe shortage of doctors and nurses (healthcare personnel in general), with outdated equipment and half-ruined hospitals. If something doesn't change REAL QUICK, I am moving away to EU and never coming back.
Oh, shut it , you brath. Hospitals are top notch , it's you, new doctors who worth a shit. And shortage of medical personnel is constant, no one asks for political views, just men power is wanted.
Something the serb nationalists will never concede. Too proud and fanatical defending their "honor" and whatnot, instead of striving for positive change so educated serbs will actually like to live there.
Serbian: Albania sucks! Albanian: Serbia sucks! German: Could you two please step aside? You are blocking the entrance to the bank. Munich, 2023, colourized
As a Hungarian I can see the similarities between the ex-Yugoslav countries and the Visegrád 4 countries also. We also do suffer greatly from the mentioned brain drain.
@@gilgameschvonuruk4982 It was getting better for a while, but thanks to the PiS motherfuckers we are ahead of another great brain drain. Polish science and universities have be slaughtered just to have some funds for their populist policies. Out of my 6 friends doing their master's degrees and Phds, only 1 stayed and works in Poland. The rest either went to work or continue their studies in Switzerland, Germany and Finland. It is crushing to see as the things really were getting better. Personally, I moved out to Czechia this year.
I hope our Slavic and Hungarian brethen will be realising the fact that one is able to build a succesful life in our countries also. This mass emmigration will be reversed I hope.
@@gilgameschvonuruk4982 i was about to say the same thing, if anything Poland will probably recover from this with the waves of migrants from eastern europe. Poland is an emerging power in the region
I’m a Bulgarian. Our country has the highest decline in population in the Balkans and in Europe together with Lithuania. I have many friends who want to leave too. It’s really bad. I personally plan to stay in Bulgaria. If I leave I will come back eventually.
Almost all Bulgarians who fled out of our country did it so because they want a better lifestyle, place where laws are strictly followed and where the corruption is not high! They just seek for a safe place for their children, but if Bulgaria and the whole Balkans once stop being the laughing stock of europe and start progressing of improving their social status and wealthiness just like the west surely most of our people will return + More foreigners will have a desire to come here and be living in our countries! 🙂
Bulgarian here. Something I've been reading more about these days (I highly recommend the book "Bad Samaritans" by Ha-Joon Chang) is the myth of the all-liberating and all-improving globalised, free and unregulated economy. When countries don't have transitionary periods to protect certain high value added industries with, they are destitute to being exporters of cheap workforce, low level goods and agriculture to the richer imperial core. The countries that promote free trade and that love the IMF and WTO are actually the countries that had insane protectionism to defend their infant industries and only opened up their markets when they could dominate globally. No country in the Eastern Bloc had a proper transition. We were shot into the liberal European and World economy. Oligarchs bought out key industries here (energy is a key example in Bulgaria) and we're headed towards eternal slavery.
You are right, but how should this transition have looked like? Similar to the "Stans" in central asia after the collapse of the soviet union? Those coutries where left relatively untouched by "the west" and arguably globalisation was hampered by not having ports to the ocean. Did they have it better? I think western high tech production will migrate to the balkans. The balkan people are used to the way of western european industrial centres and the only thing missing are the factories. With this work opportunities the former eastern block will blossom again. Unless communists take over.
@@HK-zb6si , the -stan countries in my opinion have the issue that they're geographically close to Russia (another imperial core) and that's pretty much just as bad. To be honest, when I talk about how things "should have been", it would only happen if the Eastern or Western spheres of influence didn't want us as colonies, so it really is wishful thinking on my part. Also, the "West" already had an insane inertia to fight against their economic development, which also helped in masking it as a cultural war and not a material one. Add to that some issues of Islam - used to be extremely progressive, then religious extremism made it regressive, whereas with Christianity it was kind of the opposite... But it's a topic I don't know much about.
In regard to this, I think having a proper transition period is impossible in todays enviorement, this protectionism would always lead to national industry falling behind, instead of catching up. But if you look at China for example they opened thier economy, and it took them a relatively short time as a country to catch up. So how did they do this , they put regulation in place that every foreign country needed a chinese company as a partner in order for them to operate in the country, in this way these chinese companys were able to gain a lot of intellectual property and learn a lot of good practices. Another thing they did which I thing was very clever in hinsight, and which I think is especcially important for country that lack the huge domestic market that china has. Is that they started out with special economic zones in certain citys, these citys had huge benefits for buisnesses. This served to conecentrate the economic power in certain hotspots. Therefore the people of china would move to these citys, and not into another country.
I am happy to see that there are young Bulgarians returning to the country after studying abroad. I live in Germany and my parents are constantly trying to convince me to remain here after I finish my degree, but I want to go back to Bulgaria and if possible help make it better. In stead of just avoiding its many problems by moving abroad and becoming a cog in the Capitalist machine, I want to actually do something worthwhile in my life. And even though everyone is talking about being a global citizen nowadays, I still consider myself a Bulgarian first and foremost, even while living abroad.
I had a friend who recently graduated with medicine degree in Bulgaria. He was offered peanuts.... He left for the UK as the salary there was x6 times more. Think wisely before making this move my friend. Maybe your parents are right !
As a German, I've clicked on this Video, because I noticed, that there are many people from the Balcans in my school. From Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Romania, as far as I am concerned. it's about, if not at least 10% of the people I know in my school.
in Germany, these people, even the worst students can still go to Ausbildung. In Romania they actually abolished the former communist Berufschulle, because they realized that most of these workers will probably leave the country. The disaster in the education system is so astonishing that many people cannot comprehend the fact that less than 90% of Romanians have mastered 5th grade arithmetic.
@@liveforever9888 You have no children. Ergo, your government is calling them. Someone need to work all those jobs you won't. And pay for your baby boomer pensions. Without ausländer, Germany cannot function.
@@МиколаРиндя Not anymore, multiculturalism will destroy it in the next 5 years even more You can't make Balkans, Turkish, Black Africans, middle eastern, asians , indians all live in one country ... soon whites will dissappear When u wake up who is behind the genocide against whites u will find out and u will all come in one army against that tribe
@@diyandimitrov7027 thats true that there a lot of smart people in Balkans, but still they are minority, and you not one of them if you think that a lot of smart people can`t change their country and make it better place to live
Albanian here! My country is suffering from the emigration of the youth.Many Albanian young generation are leaving towards England,Germany and USA.Its sad when a friend of yours calls you to invite you for a coffee and next thing you hear is him saying that wanted to tell you goodbye since they are leaving.It just breaks my heart,seeing friends, neighbors,family,cousins leave.I don't blame them though,they all are trying to have a better life, achieve their dreams. I am so sad to see our lands (Balkans) that have gone through so much not have some peace and prosperity,we all deserve to thrive and show the best of ourselves to the world and not seeing the best of us leave everyday.
Most fertile and mineral rich lands. Most beautiful and easy to live atmosphere. These lands where can be life heaven is turned/blighted by the corrupt and greedy ones we putting our trust and power.
The company I work for in the Netherlands, located in a village of about 6.000 people, is almost entirely staffed by people from the former socialist block, such as Poles, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Albanians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Latvians, Czechs and Slovaks, and more recently Ukrainians too. There is a Ukrainian man I work with, who has a university degree, and the best work he can find here is manual labour of stacking bean cans, it's truly depressing.
This video really hits home… and hurts. As a Bulgarian living on the other side of the planet, closer to the Great Wall than to my hometown, I can’t help feeling homesick, but also facing the facts - work wise, life back home is very very sad and discouraging
@@jackjones4824 nahhhh, that was right after cesar and augustus civil war, shitloads of deads, at that point the sich was that problematic that womens had to be given economic and liberty freedom of action, instead being placed under male tutoring because ther werent many; this also pushed women out of family bond to some extend (funny thing you can ask a femminist when the women got the right to divorce in italy "for the first time in total autonomy" and she wont know they go it in augustus time xD). Both cesar and augustus tried some lex to fix the problems but were both unsuccesfull, the roman legions were in fact becaming more and more unsustainable, as army made only from roman citisen. Think about what replacing roman leagions mean during punic wars and what did mean during teutoburg disaster, on top of had more costly wargear they were also better trained while also find less viable recruitable citisen (they had to be 1,70 cm to max 1,80cm). Due the globalisation of time (romanisation ) and subsequentialy concession fo citisenship problem got somewhat fixed till huns and that wreck load of militarisen population migration started. They still win tought and WRE collapsed not due to that in stric sense but due the internal corruption.
As someone who has a Bulgarian mom, and has fully embraced Bulgarian culture, this is indeed quite sad. Even though I am only half Bulgarian, I speak to my mom exclusively in the language and all her relatives. Almost every year I go to Bulgaria from Canada and spend the summers there. We are very fortunate to have an apartment in Sofia. Although I have never lived for a long enough time in Bulgaria to experience the "proper life," I can for sure say that I have a decent understanding of the country. I always talk to my relatives there and the Bulgarian community in my city Calgary. I've also been almost everywhere throughout the country. It's interesting because a lot of people who have moved to the West and racked up money end up going back to Bulgaria because they miss their homeland. As someone who is a duel citizen and loves both countries dearly, I can only hope things will get better in Bulgaria. Throughout history population declines and spikes are normal I guess, this is just a very long faze in the region. I would generally consider myself an optimist which not everybody appreciates and that's fine. But even with my optimism I realize how bad things are. All I can say from talking to other people is that at least a few things are getting better. It's sad to see Bulgarians hate their homeland because all of the shitty things that are happening, but also completely understandable. I also know some people who would never even think about leaving Bulgaria because they love their country so much. My mom really wants to move back and is planning on buying a bigger apparent next year or the year after. Therefore, I will likely be coming back to Bulgaria more frequent. All I can say to all my Balkan brothers is keep on to your homeland even if you live somewhere else. Two homes is always better than one.
And, I have to add, that all the money, is not gonna make you happier. There’s a big sacrifice coming from making that money. It’s the lack of family, purpose that can cause suffering abroad. Maybe your mom created a family in Canada so it was easier on her. But hopefully, out Balkan countries will get better to the point where people would want to move back. In certain aspects they are better, just not in absolute $ terms.
@@User12345fan Totally agree, my mom immigrated from Bulgaria very young at 19. It was so hard for her because she experienced racism and felt like an outsider. Even when she did make friends and made a lot of money she wasn't happy. Whenever I see her back in Bulgaria she's always so happy because it's home.
There is a bad mood and pessimism in Bulgaria. Main problems are brain drain (young educated people are leaving and building projects and startups in the West), corruption (if I remember correctly Bulgaria is the most corrupt EU nation) and population decline and average age increase. I think its nice to live in Bulgaria if you have some income from abroad or you are working in some international field, but you have to be very self-sufficient, since the system that bulgarian state provides (pensions, healthcare, education..) is not very good compared to other EU members. Its good country for people living simple life with just basic neccesities, living in the nature, farming, but if you wanna experience some rich, comfortable, international or prosperous life, then no.
As a Bulgarian in my mid 20s, i can honestly say that I see no viable future for myself in this country. And I'm saying this from the relatively privileged position of someone who was born and raised in Bulgaria's capital and earns a decent paycheck, and I'm also on my way to earning my bachelor's degree and expanding my job opportunities. I'm luckier than most in that regard, but still, even a blind man can see that the country, and the region, is slowly dying. The fundamental parts of a working economic/political system are missing or have been eroded to the point of being effectively useless. Everyone, from the children to the elderly can feel the injustice. We've been apart of the EU for more than 16 years now, and we're still as far from it as we were back then. Wages, social services, stability, access to quality healthcare, education, in a word, a dignified existence. Those are things we aren't allowed to have for various reasons and it is, what ultimately pushes people into migrating to western Europe at such an alarming rate. In a highly individualistic world, you need to do what's best for you and your loves ones after all.
@@HeroManNick132 Ако бях роден в Северна Корея нямаше нито да мога да изразя мнението си, нито да го формирам като цяло. Сравнението е безсмислено и неприложимо. Ако бях роден в Либия на пример, сигурно щях да се давя някъде в Средиземно море за да додрапам до италианския бряг. Или ако бях роден в Сирия щях да спя по гори и полета из целия Балкански полуостров докато стигна до някаква цивилизация. Но не съм роден в горе споменатите помийни ями, нали така. Роден съм в държавата на абсурдите където чистачка в Кауфланд взима повече пари от медицински работник, научен сътрудник, инженер и тн. Е за щастие мога и със самолет да стигна до желаните дестинации, така че да, явно все пак има някаква полза, че съм се родил тук.
Напълно си прав, наистина липсва перспектива за България. Корупция и демографска криза, ниски заплати и нисък стандарт на живот, прогресивно влошаващо се ниво на грамотност и тн. Е, не всичко е лошо, но това са дълбоко вкоренени и неизбежни проблеми в обществото ни. Аз съм на 17 години и имам още година и половина преди университета. Преди не ми е правило впечатление, но сега става все по-трудно да си затворя очите пред очевадните абсурди - има закони, ама кой ги спазва? Всеки месец научаваме за нови изчезнали пари. Обидно е за мен да бъда гражданин и да не правя нищо по въпроса, не знам как другите хора го понасят това. Казват ни в лицето, че ни обират, и ние пак бездействаме. Изключително унизително е. За мен не би било трудно да отида да уча в чужбина - участвам в състезания по точни науки и познавам страшно много други състезатели. Знам и стипендиите, които мога да изкарам. Мога да говоря два чужди езика. При тези обстоятелства, как да не замина? Някои невероятно интелигентни хора останаха да учат в Софийския университет, но дори и те го направиха заради семейство, приятели и морал. Просто не виждам вариант за себе си да остана, освен ако не върша някаква политическа дейност, с което никой нормален човек не би се захванал.
@@okplay9446 Въпреки целият песимизъм и критика мога да оценя факта, че не живеем зле, не и сравнено с милиони души в Африка, Азия, Южна Америка и прочие. Но не би трябвало да се сравняваме с тях. Не би трябвало да се сравняваме и с държавите в западна Европа също, най-малкото защото нямаме равен старт, а и никога не биха ни позволили да ги настигнем. На теория играем една и съща игра след 1989, но сме в различни лиги. Дори техните заводи имат едни поточни линии за тях и други за нас, познай къде качеството е по-високо. Така, че проблемът не е толкова чисто материален. Не знам някой да е заминал от алчност. Един образован и кадърен човек заминава предимно заради възможността за развитие, заради редът, заради качеството на образование, на здравеопазването, и тн. Мога да ти кажа от личен опит, че висшите учебни заведения в България (включително и СУ) са се превърнали в нищо повече от печатници за дипломи и развъдници за посредственост и неграмотност. Така че заминавай накъдето ти се отвори шансът и не се чувствай гузен или длъжен на някого. Щом обществото не го е грижи за индивида, обратното би трябвало да важи с пълна сила. А семейството ти винаги би те разбрало за избора, какъвто и да е той. За един млад човек с интереси в точните науки, и не само, в български ВУЗ място няма. А останалото си зависи лично от теб.
The death began when people started giving up, you give up, you contribute to it. Stay and do your part into making the future a better place No wonder it's corrupt as hell when everyone only cares about themselves
This is just the continuation of the urbanization trend that started a long time ago. Western countries have prosperous cities so people migrate there instead of moving to local metropolises. Even within the United States itself you'll find ghost towns everywhere in the midwest as every young person prefers to move to either New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco.
Appalachia has this issue the worst in the US. WV, EKY, and SWVA have aging populations as those with money or an education tend to move out to other states. My parents moved us from WV to the city in NC.
Its reversing though. California hit its breaking point and now theres a massive outflow of millenials going back into the suburbs to raise their families. Also the government realized that forcing people to live in some super-desert isnt exactly the most economicaly plan considering all the bullshit associated with it
Sort of, a lot of "regionalism", but not to that level. I moved from rural Alabama to the states largest city for example. Though some do move to the countries largest cities. So we have a decent balance.
I have some neighbors here in the US who left Romania a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union. He had previously been a chemist at a state manufacturing facility and his wife was a nurse at a hospital. A few years back I had a conversation with him about why he had left Romania. He told me he had lived through the bloody overthrow of Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989. He said initially after the changes in Romania he had hope that things would improve drastically - and they did for a while. He said ultimately that corruption and greed sabotaged any attempt to improve the state of things. Most of the former state enterprises were taken over by corrupt individuals (many of whom were former communists). Several of his relatives invested in the Caritas ponzi scheme which took the life savings of millions of depositors when it fell apart. He left after his job as a chemist disappeared. He said he had lost all hope that things would get better.. and that was many years ago now.
Those damn filthy Soviet subhumans and their chemical plants, industry and hospitals! They didn't even give you the freedom to run ponzi schemes! Obedience to this American reich is so much better!
In Kurdzhali region of Bulgaria there is no one! Sometime when I walk in the streets I feel like I'm in a zombie apocalypse. The streets are empty, there are no light in most of the apartments, you feel like if someone kills you in the center of the city, no one will notice. It's really scary. I always use the road from Kurdzhali to Momchilgrad, which is very important road which connect two major towns, after 22 a clock I don't encounter a single car. The police sometimes stops me and when I say why, they're we are bored, you were the only one in the road. There are only the traffic police and me in the roads. After 02:00 (after midnight) they turn off the street lights in smaller towns, I look at the mountains and it's all dark, no sign of life. You won't notice you're in a town with 5k population until you're already in it.
@@lioneldemun6033 it does vary though. I live in North East Scotland and there is plenty of space. Scotland in fact is on the brink of population falling and people are leaving the Highlands and Islands for the cities.
@@Purple_flower09 Lucky you. Here where I live ( South of France close to the Med) it's overpopulated and to add insult to injury the politicians love it , more people under their yoke.
@@lioneldemun6033 yes I've been to the South of France and although many places are beautiful still, there has been too much development. When we visited Nice there were huge endless blocks of flats right along the seafront. It wasn't attractive at all. I've read about more and more people wanting to go to the region, demands for water and housing and all the rest. It will be a shame if the whole region is spoiled.
As a Macedonian now living further up north, it is very sad to see my hometown emptier and emptier each time I visit. I myself have many friends who wish to leave the country in search of a better life. I think I speak for most Balkan people when I say that our countries continue to give us reasons to leave them. Even if there was one good reason to stay, it would be outnumbered at least one to five by good reasons to leave. The Balkans are blinded by hatred for each other, purely stemming from corrupt and short-sighted politicians who try to steal as much money as possible from the country during their tenure by whatever means necessary. Educated people leave the first chance they get, knowing they deserve and can do better, leaving only the ignorant and bitter behind.
As a New Zealander this interests me. New Zealand has over 20% of its citizens living outside the country including myself. Brain brain is a very real phenomenon even within developed nations. In the UK London Hoovers up the talent. In the US it’s LA, New York and a couple of other cities where all the action happens. Australia where I live is usually the beneficiary of the best and brightest of the world coming here to make a nice life by the beach.
@@ente866 Well if Hungary wants to leave the EU, I will have to because even within the EU this place is depressing, I can’t imagine how much worse it will get when they can and will do anything to stay in power.
Weirdly enough, for Romanians at least, the trend seems to slow down as more and more people are being disheartened by life in the West and are moving back. Of course this is not enough in any way to stop the population loss, for the moment at least.
These countries used to be in an even worse state in other points in history, yet depopulation was never a problem until now. The real reason, which applies to the western world as a whole really, is that starting a family, especialy a big one, isn't really a priority anymore. We are finding meaning in materialistic things. This wasn't a thing in the past simply because there just wasn't that much else open to the average "peasant" other than work and finding a mate.
Having children as a peasant tended to make you richer. You weren't expected to invest a lot of resources in them (don't need a formal education to be a farmer, and it was acceptable to just let your kids run around all day eating mud and hitting each other with sticks) and they could start working for you from a young age. But nowadays everybody is an employee, so your kids can't help with your job. And for your children to have any chance in life they need a lot of expensive attention and education. So having children will make you poorer. Which leaves only the sentimental argument for starting a family. And even the people who want to start a family for sentimental reasons will often only have _one_ child, because birth control is easy.
@@HeadsFullOfEyeballs You’re so right. All manner of human culture and antiquity in this modern and industrial society is now become nothing but archaic relics of nuisance to the modern man, only doomed to be forgotten in the oblivion of the sensual moment. There is no other way but to flee from the cities, refusing any participation in them notwithstanding the inconceivable wealth able to be attained from them.
That goes for the western countries only. People in Serbia and other Balkan countries would gladly have great families and many children, but due to western influence that devastated our economy, that's no longer possible for 95 percent of people.
I am Latvian living in Germany and I visited the country last summer. Outside of the capital city Rīga, there's nothing. The amount of money people earn there is criminal. 400€ a month is normal. And the worst is that some prices are even higher than in Western countries. No wonder people are leaving because our government will only listen to Nato and not help our own country :(
I live in Poland and minimal net salary is like 600€. Rent in big cities is ~250€ and you can get by on ~300€. Some prices are adjusted to western values but most things are cheap. So if you ever get bored of germany you can try here.
Wow crazy how similar it is to Serbia. Rents in big cities are from 300-2000€ (because of Russian refugees greedy landlords increased the prices to infinity) and salaries can be as low as 300-400€. Food is literally more expensive than in Germany. And the countryside is completely dead and empty.
Communism is good But its framed as and seems like it was state control of all jobs state atheism destroying and surpressing patriotism and culture If that was fixed people would accept communism And another problem is that communism seems to have made the problem of low birth rates it looks like it has good aproach to everything in theory,but in practise the core stone of civilization ,family was reduced and capitalism has destroyed it Better than capitalism,but in capitalism you could easily just become wealthier and live far from capitalist degeneration of society
By my unprofessional calculations inflation has raised food prices by at least 25% procent in Romania. Romanians, together with the Albanians and Macedonians allocate more of their monthly wage on food than all the other European peoples. This is a sign of underdevelopment. The rise in gas and electricity prices has also caused deaths in villages, people freezing to death. Even though Romania does not have a reserve army of labor that can migrate to those 5 cities that show any sign of vitality, wages still remain very low, many in the capital are still paid 350 euros a month and live from hand to mouth, stressed and sick. The centrist "populist" social democrats who have ruled for most of the 2010's have raised the minimum wage to help the poorest, convince them to stay (since it is easy to find work in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, or Spain). Unfortunately the war has basically erased 10 years of capitalist development (and what a slow and unequal development). The country is basically dead, they are trying to raise the quotas for non EU migrants to try to replace the missing labor force, but they cannot create a reserve army of labor formed by Indians and Philipinos, since these people while in Romania have to stay constantly employed and once out of employment they risk being sent home. The state apparatus had to manufacture a fake census to mask the exodus. The low birth rate is not helping either. At this point, peasants, proletarians and even the sons and daughters of the petty bourgeoise professors, bureaucrats and small bussinesman dream of leaving for the west. Obviously this decline will take decades and there is no question of the state colapsing, of any danger for the big bourgeoisie. Even Moldova shows us that you can rob for three decades the most wretched of peoples, to pillage it by stealing directly from the state bank and run away like a rat. The subordinate classes left without political organization, demoralized, will endure stoically.
is that because in UK for example we are struggling with vastly high housing prices? And the fact that many/most British youngsters will never be able to afford their own property? What odds does it make whether money goes on food or rent? At least you can grow your food if you need to eat, we can't grow houses :)
@@duxromanorum9861 it’s sociological terminology. It was used in Romania even before Communism, even by famous bourgeois authors like Eugen Lovinesc, or Stefan Zeletin who had no ties to Communism.
@@duxromanorum9861 I tend to agree on the 'bourgeoise this and that comment', and on the surface of it would have agreed with you just a few years ago, but ultra, unbridled capitalism, piss poor practice, corruption, oligopolies, market and media manipulation and a total lack of self control have made big business and a few individuals almost the enemy of mankind. Now, I wonder if using those words isn't totally reasonable?
While the situation here is still shitty, I won't deny that it's better now than it was two decades ago. Romania has improved, even if its population has declined. I see a lot more people being able to afford living here than I was seeing a few years ago. I don't know if this means we'll break out of the death spiral we currently find ourselves in, but maybe we have a chance.
Roumanian here: Is it true your OBLASTS (if wrongly using this word, sorry!) bordering Danube, i.e. Durostor and Kaliakra (ibid.), are masively depopulated?
@@hhjj621 I'm not sure what you mean by Durostor. Kaliakra is (well I don't know the word in English) but something like the end of the shore and it is in the Dobruja oblast. And for the most part north Bulgaria is poor with the north west being the poorest and losing the most people. Oh and I've wanted to visit Romania for a while so hopefully someday I get the chance.
The only reason Serbia lost only 9% of its population is that most of the 15% that Croatia lost were the ethnically cleansed Serbs during the Operation Storm, most of whom settled in Serbia.
Not that much.More of them either went back,or went abroad.The largest population movement was the one commies made when they settled serbs from Bosnia and Croatia in norther Serbia.
@@cs0345 Isn't the whole Sprska literally full of refugees from Croatia. They are not all poor who want to leave. Plenty of farms and mines in the Balkans.
True. I live in Bulgaria and there has been an acute demographic crisis for years. It's mostly due to people leaving to work abroad. I am optimistic though. I know many people who came back after years of hard work and many others who live abroad but definitely plan to return in the future. Basically no person I know wants to live in the West, everyone says the same thing, people are cold, society is soulless and it's not the utopia people back home imagine. So I am optimistic, many Bulgarians did leave home but I hope most of them will return one day to make their country better. I hope time proves me right.
Yeah i knew a few guys like the ones you describe from university. These guys came to Germany to study, never tried to make any friends, only hung out in their BG students club and with other Bulgarians, barely tried to learn the language and took most courses in English, when i made an effort to talk to them about Bulgaria, what they had to say is there are too many gypsies, BG invented the Cyrillic alphabet and the football team was good for a while in the 90s, that's about it. These dudes basically come to another country, get (almost) free university education and health care, and then complained when not everybody ran to them and kissed their feet and fed them grapes. These are the guys who go back to Bulgaria. I also know lots of guys who came here from Bulgaria, actually made an effort to meet people and make friends, same found partners, good jobs, even had kids. They are not coming back, except for occasional holidays. Now if i look at these two groups, i would be less optimistic than with just people leaving, because the good guys will most likely stay away, while the grouchy douchebags will come back (and then still complain about everything).
@@ireminmon The numbers beg to differ. But you don't seem to be interested in reality anyways, trolls like you would just be sad and angry, even more so than already the case.
4:43-4:46 Hits hard as a portuguese, i feel like most of the youth feels like this, the sad state of unemployment amoung the youth makes most people leave portugal to go to places like the USA and UK and hopefully come back here when they either have the money or can retire
@@masterblaster848 Brate, ako klima nije dobra kod nas i nemamo geopoliticku dobru situaciju onda sam ja majmun. Imamo sve sto nam treba, samo fali obrazovanje kod starijih ljudi, vise slobode kod mladih i dobar sistem. Mi absolutno sve imamo, i pamet, i lepu prirodu i sva doba u godinu se lepo vide. Poljuprivrednu zemlju, reke i sume. Lepe devojke, samo kao sto rekoh u danasnji svet fali obrazovanje. Pusta amerika koja osim pustinje i asfalta ne broji mnogo lepih krajeva za zivot. Ali su ipak uspeli da imaju uticaj u ceo svet. To je samo trenutna situacija, sve ce se brzo promeniti. Inace Portugal je takodje lepa zemlja.
I'm moving from the US to the Balkans (Albania). I love your channel BTW, been watching for years now. What a journey of thought and reflection you've had! However, I don't think private property, wage labor or profit motive are bad things even though they can be perverted.
Bulgaria still counts me as a resident there despite having left back in 1999. Its scary to think what the actual population is then (or scary if I actually cared, that is).
In Kurdzhali region there are no one! Sometime when I walk in the streets I feel like I'm in a zombie apocalypse. The streets are empty, there are no light in most of the apartments, you feel like if someone kills you in the center of the city, no one will notice. It's really scary. I always use the road from Kurdzhali to Momchilgrad, which is very important road which connect two major towns, after 22 a clock I don't encounter a single car. The police sometimes stops me and when I say why, they're we are bored, you were the only one in the road. There are only the traffic police and me in the roads.
@@nikolavojnovic6552 Why do you assume that it's their country? Do you believe that people are obliged to alleigance and servitude to the state in whose territory they happened to be born and raised in? I find that depressing. It's against my values of freedom, self-identification and individual sovereignty.
As someone living in the middle east, we also have that problem and as someone wrote before me, it is part of a global urbanization and to be more specific: everyone is usually attracted by the closest economic hub. Even in France, Germany, Belgium, etc. many villages had been levelled to the ground because no one is living there anymore. Forests has increased in Western Europe by 20% in 30 years due to internal migration and better crops yields. In Europe, the economic hubs are certain parts of western Europe and for us in the middle east the two closest hub are western Europe and Arabic gulf states like UAE and Saudi-Arabia. And believe it or not, more and more even western European are going to work in the Arabic gulf states. Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians etc. are also attracted by this middle east economic hub. Studies suggest that nations with GDP per capita between 7,000 USD per year and 15,000 USD per year have the most immigration ratios to countries where GDP per capita is higher than 30,000 USD per year like Western Europe, Canada, US, Australia and to countries that have somewhat good immigration policies. Less than 7K they are too poor to emigrate by large quantities, and more than 15K, they have a strong middle class and are less likely to emigrate. In Africa, 90% of the emigration is within the continent itself and the other 10% for the other 4 continents. So after saying that it is obvious that to stop emigration, a country should have its local industrial economic hub by having good universities and education system, less corruption, more factories, etc. than GDP per capita will increase, emigration will stop and immigration from other countries will begin and this will change the country’s social structure and other problems will appear.
If we were robots, I would believe in socialism. As we are not, I can not devote my life to a revolution that betrayed us once before. People are greedy. That is part of our nature. Those greedy survived through the centuries and we are all descendants of the greediest ones. Whether we make a capitalist or a socialist society the greediest ones will get the power and once that happens we will be doomed again. In capitalism, we can learn to swim with the knowledge we can sell. In socialism the only thing that is worthy is loyalty and I don't want to repeat the mistake my ancestors once made. None of the two systems is worth fighting for. We have only one life and the only thing that matters is ourselves. We can fight for ecology, culture, better education, better health care, or anything else, but fighting for socialism with the assumption that it will give us all those improvements is madness. At least I see it that way. People didn't enjoy their lives in the USSR or any other eastern block country. We need a new, fresh idea, not any of these. It is not a problem with socialism, but with people. People are those whom I don't trust, not Marx.
Pretty good assessment. I'd argue that the most successful countries have mixed economies. Where there is still private ownership and enterprise, bit the economy and financial systems are heavily regulated.
Bulgarian here.. To add to your list. Big part in the question why young and educated leave is the as I called it 'the same wage syndrome'. Here low level construction labourer easily can make almost the same money as engineer, doctor or similar middle class profession. It is frustrating and very hard to escape this wage line. People see that in western Europe that king of skill has more returns then here. People like and want their skill to be appreciated both financially and verbally, to be part of collective. The opposite is happening here and that is why they try to leave .
That is in no way true about the west. The best paid employees are in blue collar work, especially trades. All the real money goes to sales and owners of course.
in Croatia construction workers right now where I live earn more than engineers or pharmacists for example because there is too few of them and too many engineers and doctors etc.; a pharmacist friend earns about 1k/month while another construction worker friend earns about 1.5-2k depending on the job
Thank you for making this video. It is so disheartening to see this happen to Greece as well. Our people have endured so much, and going extinct because of the stupidest economic system in history, is such an unfitting end. It is humiliating as well because there is little sympathy from our imperial overlords. Despite the #progressive #wokeness of European liberalism, they find it perfectly fine to joke about our "laziness" and "corruption" and then visit our country by the millions, expect us to speak to them in their language, and to serve them wine, beer, coffee and other products that we ourselves are no longer able to afford in our own country. It is so disheartening to be a waiter, with a face covered with two Covid masks, working overtime for very little, and seeing these oblivious wealthy Europeans jokingly say "yia mas" when you bring them their wine, while you can't take a day off, and while our youth are fleeing the country. And we are oblivious as well. Many of us who spent time outside of Greece, come back lamenting how superior European infrastructure and entrepreneurship were compared to ours. Just as our stolen past is in their museums, so is our stolen future in their banks.
@@marcusj9947 Liberal alert. Sorry, I wasn't born an individualist Randian Ubermensch, I could not change fiscal policy when I was 12 years old. Blaming those responsible for our problems will help steer us in a better direction, it is that simple.
@@kurtshaw229 I do. If you wanna believe the "Greeks are corrupt and lazy" fairytale, and don't think the EU played any part in this, then you should do some research before voicing an opinion on other people's countries.
Bulgarian here. You're right, we made a huge mistake moving away from the medieval feudal state capitalism towards the liberal state capitalism we have today. It's horrible, I can't sell my wife and kids into slavery anymore, neither can I commit senicide to get the property of my parents, not to mention the dissolution of the social structure from the removal of the prima nocta institution. But the future holds a great promise that the anti-capitalist forces of the East will soon win versus the Collective West and we can restore communism so that we can complete the work of Tito and Dimitrov of erasing the Bulgarian history, language and culture because they shouldn't have existed at all in the first place, amen!
Communism and western liberalism, both destroy culture. I don't want communism if I reject west, that's foolish of you to think there is no other option than the 2.
You fucking imbecile,we would have almost nothing without communism,we would still be ruled by kings that came from western Europe or we would have been subsumed into the nazi empire,the Soviets liberated us from the fascist collaborators that ruled our nations,both in Bulgaria and Romania,where I'm from,also fuck off with the "cultural erasure" bullshit,I don't mourn the boyars who's lands were expropriated and given to the people,we were nothing more than the Ottoman's bitch back then,after they were gone,the West stepped in as their replacement and are doing the same now after the Eastern Bloc fell
@@lettergam6282 ah, it's so nice to see people being reported not for their view, but for the low level of expression and unnecesarily explicit language. But then again, people with such world view demonstrate way too often similar language capabilities. Of course, a coincidence.
Balkan (mainly exYugoslav republics) are through 3 decades of "free market capitalism" became first colonial countries on European ground. With promises of better future we gave it up all their wealth (both natural and human resources) for a dream that is clearly impossible. Together we could stand tall, divided we are ruined by false promises that there is greener grass across fences we didn't even builted.
First colonial countries on European ground, you say... Spain once owned the Netherlands, England and France fought to take chunks out of each other for centuries, to say nothing of England's treatment of Ireland well into the 20th Century... You get the dubious honor of being the latest in what amounts to a long and fairly embarrassing history.
Even thoughI I don't agree with many things you say, I hink this is a really important topic to talk about. In some ways we have common enemies. Greetings from Hungary
I'm Serbian. Living in Asia in my seventh year. In the last few years, new phenomena happened. More and more 50+ people are leaving the country and looking for better living and working conditions in Asia. Currently, my closest friends are Macedonian, Montenegrian, and Serbian fellows in Saigon.
this youtube channel is great ive been watching them for a while and youve evolved from a channel with a clear serbian nationalist bias to a channel with a very honest and nuanced view of europe and the balkans which is really admirable good job as many channels would just hammer on their niche while your channel has turned into a very important look into a side of europe noone talks about
on top of this your videos have made me see serbia and general balkan nationalism in a different view. coming from america I used to see serbia as the enemy or the aggressor but through your videos I have seen a much more nuanced view of the whole situation not as serbia vs the other yugoslav nations but as corruption vs the people so keep up the good work man
I came for some hard numbers and analysis and got communist rambling about evil imperialistic capitalists from the west like if it was cut and pasted from our local commie newspapers 40 years ago. My disappointment is immeasurable.
I do Not have any roots in this region but I travel a lot there and visited all countries except Albania, North Macedonia and Greece. I knew about the Numbers but was not aware of the true scale of this tragedy until very recently, because I always sticked to the bigger cities. In December I visited croatia with a friend and we rented a Car and explored the countryside and also went to Bosnia (Prijedor). Its so sad to see the regions Close to the border being completely empty and still devastated by the war. The Tourist areas are Not any better (we visited Krk and the Coast). Saw not a single Person under 30, all the Towns seem pretty empty in General, as there seems to be no other work as the tourist sector. It was a hard contrast to Zagreb and Rijeka, which are still buzzling cities with many Young people in Cafés or Bars in the evening. I Hope the Future will be more bright for this region.
Literally the same thing here in Albania, village over village are becoming ghost towns, and after the touristic season, this country change his facade, everything is depressing, less and less people in the streets, most of my parents left this country and now all of us live in Italy. Hope one day I can return here and live happily among my people.
@@petikosut2553 He is one of those teachers that likes to talk with his students off topic if we finnish the lesson quickly. Our lesson was birth control. After we finnished he started talking about people leaving the country and how it's all going to shit.
Maybe if the most important life value for Balkan people was not returning every summer in a shiny BMW/Audi, they could work on improving things in their own country
One of my best friends is from Serbia and Tito visited my home country during the American agression war 1955-1975. This is one of the best channels on the Balkan ❤
Are you Vietnamese? My grandmother saw Ho Chi Min live in Belgrade in early 60s. People were estatic and cheerful to see a man who stood against the great powers.
As a romanian citizen, I can confirm that is so so stupid. People are not leaving because others are richer, they leave because they are betrayed by their own state, politics, most of employers of the state that holds this high corruption. Politics here are very greedy, thinking only about their OWN interests, not even thinking that if it was like for whole country and stand for it, i am 100% sure it was better. It’s a sensitive topic and I can debate all day but its pointless. In Germany maybe they have greed but for slices of bread, not the all bakery. Long live Germany!
There is a reason why polticians betray their own population in Romania, all of them are put in power by the west, long live Germany? No, communism and the west destroyed Romania after 1989, I want my country to live.
Also conveniently ignores that terrible state most Eastern bloc countries were by 1989. Yugoslavia, the poster boy of "good socialism", was bankrupt, had an unemployment percentage of like +20% (which meant many went overseas to Iraq, Saudi Arabia and...gasp! Germany!) and huge regional divides where Slovenia and Croatia did well at the expense of Macedonia and Kosovo. Lingering resentment fueled the rise of Milosevic and the Yugoslav wars.
@@dasbubba841 This guy was a militant nationalist like 1 year ago. He’s not ideologically motivated as much as he is an emotionally guided chauvinist who will jump on board any narrative with his heart 100% convinced. People like this are just predisposed to extremism. We’ll see if this grift lasts or not either way he doesn’t know much of what he speaks
As a Bulgarian I can explain what happened to my country and I imagine the rest have common stories. Basically we had a middle class, stable population growth etc. In the 40s and 50 the communists nationalized everything. After that they started industrializing the country at a faster pace. Every local communist built a factory in his home town for whatever he liked. The problem was these factories weren`t built with profitability in mind and routinely ran at a loss. The system was maintained through debt. When the money ran out the regime collapsed and everything went broke. People were left without jobs and so they started moving to the capital or West in order to find work. Meanwhile because the only people who knew what was going on in the country during communism where the secret service people. They were also the best connected so when communism fell they were able to take advantage of the chaos and grab power, money and land. The communist elite became a "democratic" oligarchy who stole whatever was left. Meanwhile the people that were kept voting for socialist "free stuff" since they were poor further stagnating economic growth. There is light at the end of the tunnel though. Crime and corruption decreased since the 90s and early 2000s. The economy also grew and emigration West decreased. Things aren`t perfect but they are better than they were.
congrats, you just explained what every history book in a former eastern bloc with an ongoing anticommunist propaganda says. blame it on communism when people who experienced both systems say they lived a better life back then and not on western imperialism and shock therapy. dont ever complain about the status quo, just blame "corruption" (as if it's not systematically encouraged) and your own population. it's their fault, right?
@cromancer 321 (cromancer321) I'm not talking about it. Of course, you can stick to any ideology you want. But you can't just say, that people enjoyed communism only because "everyone is poor", first of all, you're straight up showing your disrespect, second of all, if you would be hungry, there is no way that someone else being hungry will make you happy, if things worked like this, there weren't any revolutions in the first place. When my father told me about his experience in Soviet Union, he said he was happier not because "everyone was poor", but for so many different reasons. Please, stop spreading myths like "everyone was poor" and "they just were young", it's not the case. As time passed, life eventually became better, because world never stips it's development, but 1984 for my dad is still the most satisfying year in his life.
Steel Works "Kremikovci" - net worth 2.5 billion dollars, sold for 1$ by the "smart capitalists" in the 90s (a turkish company actually offered 200 million dollars for it, but the "smart capitalists" gave it to a nobody) "Himko" chemical plant - net worth 400 million dollars, sold for 1 million (only 100k were actually paid, stolen) Aviocompany "Balkan" - net worth 24 million dollars, sold for 150k (puppet neo-liberal prime minister Ivan Kostov scrapped the planes for 3 personal apartments by his EU overlords) "Agropolihim" Devin - net worth 38 million dollars, sold for 1 lev DZU Stara Zagora (factory for computer memory and flashdrives) - 69 million dollars net worth, sold for 54k $" "Arsenal" Kazanlak (weapons factory) - net worth 80 million dollars, sold for 2.1 million $ (none of which paid) So please "enlighten" us which factories exactly you think were "working at a total loss", cuz the only ones ive heard of, belong to private companies only created the last 30 years?
@@meganoobbg3387 This is a sentiment I`ve heard by many Bulgarians who got butthurt at the time because life dealt them a hard hand but didn`t understand who fucked them and so signal Kostov as the scapegoat. You might say it sucks that your town like mine got fucked coz it lost a lot of jobs (which is true) or that there was a lot of corruption (also true) or that it was very stressful which is fair. The reality is all the companies you mentioned had debt far greater than their "net worth" and the state was bankrupt with over 100% debt to GDP ratio. We were a basket case that nobody wanted to invest in either. If we had not done what we did we would have lived in a permanent "Videnov winter" which was worse. In fact the communists themselves predicter that the state would go bankrupt in 87. So the regime held out for ~2 extra years. Personally I think that the modern day senior citizens are to blame for most of this. They lived above their means for decades spending money that the next generations have to pay back and even today the vast bulk of tax collected money that WE PAY is being spent on pensions and healthcare even though it`s obvious that the healthcare system will go broke in the next 15-20 years and we will have another Videnov winter and a social, political and economic collapse. This money could have been better used rebuilding our economy, infrastructure and military and basically building a world where young people can have children so Bulgaria DOESN`T DIE but instead it`s used for the gluttony of a generation that fucked over both their children and their grandchildren in a shitty alliance with the communists.
As an emigrant from Dalmatia I can say that Dalmatia is the best place in the world to live in and not so great to work in. If one don’t have housing solution he is likely to move.
You can live in Dalmatia if you have money. It's more and more expensive every year, Turkey, Greece and Egipt are cheaper than Croatia. It's a, curse you have beaches, sea but you don't have a, money.
As an italian living in germany, I see it as part of human nature and not as a product of capitalism. Every country has enough downside to be considered terrible, the difference between them are small but can be enough to justify migration.
Unfortunately you are right. Yugoslavia had socialist system (as good as it gets!) for several decades. No new revolution was needed. And still, people didn't keep it...
@@sosna1443 Our medical system was 100 times better in socialism...Today people die before they even see a doctor. And this is just a peak of the ice berg
@@МиколаРиндя Czechs are doing exceptionally fine as well. We don’t need to move at all. Having border with Austria and Germany helps which mean you can just work there but live in czech…
As a Bulgarian who has travelled abroad and knows a lot of people that went to live abroad I don't understand why people emigrate today. I could understand 10 years ago but today things are much different. Violent crime is down tremendously to the point even women can walk alone at night. Salaries are up, cost of living proportional to the salary is down. Taxes are low. It's also very easy to start a business and have it operate as small or medium. Are things perfect? No. Northwest Bulgaria is still the poorest region in the EU, but Sofia and Plovdiv are some of the best cities in the EU. I feel like a lot of people act like it's the 90s and mafia is everywhere, there shootouts on the streets, everything is corrupt, etc. and believe that once they go to Germany they would be immediately offered a well paid job and a nice house. The reality for those that emigrate is much different. Sure some get to have a nice job and a nice house, but most work in 2 or 3 places and can't even afford to return because all their money is gone for bills, taxes, food, etc. To top it all off competition for all kinds of jobs in the west right now is massive, because of all the immigrants that come from all over the world so salaries (adjusted for inflation) are down massively there, so even if you spend almost a decade getting bachelors and then masters to become expert chemist the chance of you getting a well paying job is very slim. On the other hand if you start your journey to become a chemist today by the time you finish your education you could probably find a nice job here. Sure you would have less zeroes at the end of your salary but your expenses would have even less zeroes. I have a friend who studies to be an editor and also works as one. He edits two wedding videos and has all his expenses covered for the month and up until he became a weeb recently he wanted to go to America to work on big movies. I don't know how he could imagine this would realistically happen. Out of the tens of thousands of editors in America only a few hundred work on the big movies and he has zero connections and likes to drink vodka while editing AND Americans think their film schools are superior. So he had absolutely no chance editing a medium or high budget movie in Hollywood. I just can't wrap my head around how people can think like that.
While it's sad and something that I wish wasn't happening, at the end of the day you have to look after your family and survival and I will go where it's best for me. Maybe it's time for the Balkans to gather their stuff together so that people can work and live the lives they want and be able to provide for their families.
@cromancer 321 Sometimes you gotta let the whole rotting structure collapse on itself. Or maybe not. Idk. When I think of the various issues in the US and my absolute lack of faith they could actually fix it and fix it well, I think it's easier to just leave. Like Healthcare. Do I want it? Yes. But I have absolute zero faith they would produce a system actually worthwhile.
I remember when we used to have this issue in Estonia but as you would expect, it kind of died down after pay rates started rapidly rising every year. Oddly, rather soon after this issue was agreed on politically to be rather serious. Now going to work abroad is maybe somewhat of a good idea if the pay is really, really good but it has many negatives working against it. Some people still work abroad only because they’re used to it. The birth rate didn’t improve haha but at least the population loss, is hovering around 0%. What else can you do but think of creating your own family and do your part. I think that is where one half of the issue is. Like who the hell thinks of creating a family growing up these days. It’s like maybe it happened by accident and the people were like: “oh well🤷♂️”.
Exactly. Western Europe is not a friendly environment anymore, and people are not too desperate to go living as a refugee in Western Europe, since those societies suffer also from Nepotism, Corruption, Weird Values (implemented by force to it's population, genders complexity etc.), and above all.... high influx of Africa and Asia in their societies, which will only grow. Poland and Hungary have same line in politics, and they will be much more desired destination for workers from Southeastern Europe.
I lived in Estonia for a while and what I found really interesting is that lots of Estonians who emigrated in the past decades have been migrating back as the Estonian economy improved.
@@NekoImeni I doubt it since they are both eastern nations suffering from the same systemic issues like he said policies and edicts weren't change a thing they work well short term but there's not much sustainability.
Estonia is facing a massive demographic crisis tho, especially when considering that it is one of the smallest countries in Europe making up only 0.2% of the total EU population. The natural birthrate has decreased substantially last year and only the thing keeping the population numbers stable is high immigration from Ukraine/Russia. Also over 25% of the population does not speak Estonian as their native language.
I strongly disagree. Compared to who are we worse off demographically? If you don’t count immigration then the decline might have been idk 0,2%? The amount of people we are talking about is unsubstantial when looking at a single year. The immigrant claim is also false as we don’t really accept many people in general and the younger generation of soviet time immigrants are steadily integrating into our country not vice versa. For immigrants to remain in the country they are required to integrate. Providing education in russian is finally started being phased out. Only speaking russian just means the person has little perspective to be successful in this country and the young know that. The overall size of the country is irrelevant in this discussion because a difference of thousand people is of no consequence. The overall population has remained steady or had a slight increase. For the majority of Estonians the thought of living abroad in Europe is rather undesirable. So, if you want to call out a country for having a demographic crysis then perhaps pick a better example. If the current situation is a tragedy in your view then do you suppose people are to be forced to make more children because that is the only real variable here to affect anything meaningfully.
The reason people are leaving is because it is easier to leave than stay and fix the present issues. The biggest issues are the utter failure of the balkans to adopt democracy and free economy instead reverting to corruption and nepotism. The people left behind are the reason the countries are failing, their ianptitude to vote and selfgovern which is a direct cause of socialism. These countries fail to compete in an open world hence why their ppl have no incentive to stay. Most of what you said is flawed, the issues when it always seems are coming from the outside are in reality often from the inside. The issue is within the human capital itself. Trends reverse and in due time this one will too.
Rest assured: these people are leaving now only because there happens to be some way out. If they could have, they would have left even during Yugoslavia's Tito years. They were all talking shit about the West- America in particular - yet they would have given the shirts off their backs to go there in, say, 1977. And what happens when they do arrive in 'The Promised Land'? All they ever talk/think about is 'back home'. They become like the Bourbon emigrees : they have learned nothing & forgotten nothing.
actually the no future perspective is very true. Our generation is different than our parents and grandfathers. They told us that our parents had it rough, but the truth is that every day, they would wake up and every single time they were waking up, it was a better day... better than the previous one. Right now, ever since i became 18 ( i am now 29-30) every day, i wake up and that day is always worse than the previous one. There hasn't been a single day that things are better. Things are ALWAYS worse. you're wondering when it's gonna end. But apparently, it's never going to end... There's absolutly no future perspective..you can't afford an appartment, you can't afford to have a family.. nothing.
@@akhsdenlew1861 I see what you're getting at, and I agree that on a larger scale, everything seems to be getting worse. We're constantly reminded about global warming and how if this keeps up, after 10 years the world will be a very hard place to live in. Also Covid happened, then the war in Ukraine, followed by worldwide economic depression, yeah in general its not good. I think the difference between our lives and those of our grandfather's is that our world is much more interconnected. So when something happens at the other end of the globe, we can learn about it in only a few minutes, while they could only hear about it from a radio or newspaper, obviously days after the event itself. In reality, bad things happen and have happened many times in the past, it's just that now they are more visible due to technology and Internet. And because you see more of them now, you reason that there were fewer before and that maybe it was better then. Most likely though, life was just as hard, people just knew less of others' misfortunes.
I was born and raised and I live in Austria, but I do still have strong connections (espacially friends living there) to my roots in my town and village. As long as I can think, the living situation always was somewhat dark, but it never interfered with our social life and let‘s say the joy of spending time together, be it in town partying, sitting at the village memorial and spending time or even working together like f.e. chopping wood. However, in the last year or so I noticed a kind of depression among my friends and colleagues. They’re trying to immigrate to the EU. It kind of hurts when you realize that the people you made life-long memories with, are leaving to live like slaves, exactly how they used to, but with higher pay-checks and a promised and somewhat better future. The other part that stays got corrupted by the system and the social depression, throwing themselves into alcohol, drugs or gambling, you choose, and loosing the joy of living and reaching individual goals. I think in the last year or so, this deep-cutted problem really began to show its consequences and to take its toll on the people, at least amongst the people I know and love.
As a Romanian that wants to leave in the next year and a half max this is definietly accurate. There is no point to staying here. Despite our growing economy, there is no reason to stay. The country has so many things wrong with it I cannot even count them all. I couldn t find a job with my degree here so I prefer to leave and work even something else, lol.
@@toromontana8290 i do not vote for PSD but I do vote for left leaning parties like USR. Stop commenting on me and my political choices, you do not know me, lol. And social democrats are not the evil, if everything would be as you said the society would look just as distopian as the US s one does and that s not the model of society and life I want to live in. That shit is a distopia. Education and healthcare are human rights and those I believe are European values not just "socialist" values. And also, you cannot vote socialism since there is no pure form of socialism literally nowhere in Europe. There is social democracy which I believe it is the best form of governing ever. I do agree with a capitalistic form of economy like we have today but one that has certain limits imposed on it for the benefit of everyone. PSD is an old party pretty much made up of people that are lead only by self interest. There are other European countries which are pretty much ruled by social democrats and are very much triving. Romania s issue is just that we simply didn t have enough time to develop as those other nations and we have too conservative, pro russian, pro religion politicians. The problems that make me leave my country is just that the underfunding of state universities and the coruption of private ones, lack of enough social programmes for every person in need, lack of sexual education, the general mysoginy of men here and the disregard and hatred for the LGBT community. Those are some points that i d say are more right side leaning that make me want to leave despite the economic growth, not PSD necessarly. Even PSD is not a purely social democrat party. Their private buissneses taxation was lower than the one of PNL and it should be literally reversed. In Romania political parties do not have such a clear agenda pesides politicians serving their own personal agenda. You often can see politicians migrating from PNL to PSD and vice versa. Also the fact we have an extremist neo nazi party on the rise makes me want to leave the country. I m talking about AUR. I do want to leave the country because of the lack of actual left leaning parties besides USR and because of lack of punishments in cases of rape or very little punishment and so fort. If anything, i m leaving because of not enough leftish politics not because of them. And also what a fucked up thing to say dude, that people do not deserve a pension after a lifetime of work. Idk where you are from but your ideas are cancerous and very US distopian. I cannot believe you re so ok with the idea of letting people starve literally. As I said look at all Western and Northern Europe, they are doing well under a social democracy and well an actual democracy unlike the US "democracy". Believe it or not your politican system and way of thinking is broken from the core and it is not worthy of following. Just the fact you have only 2 parties is absolutely not democratic. In a normal healthy democracy even conservatives are more lenient to progress. Take the case of Germany legalising same sex marriage during the time Merkel (who was part of a christian party a religious party to the core). I do want to live but I do want to live in another European country with true European values, democratic values where human rights are respected including the right to health care, education and pension after a life time of work. Even if my country is the way it is, you couldn t pay me to live in a society just like the US has. It is absolutely distopian.
@@toromontana8290 do wtf you want in your bloody society but it s not the type of system that I d want to live in. Your problem is that you have such an individualistic society like as long as i m ok, fuck everyone else, lol. US will not change but I do not want Romania or any other Eastern European country to ever follow that model cause it is cruel and dystopian. The only way for my country to get better is to follow Western Europe and Northern Europe s model. If one can do better than the average that doesn t mean the less fortunate should go without basic human needs like shelter, food, a decent life especially in their old age. There is no point in arguing further as this is my opinion and this is what I aspire to. And before you try to call me a commie or whatever, I couldn t be further away from that. It s a tragedy of history and a criminal regime but despite that I wont praise the US like individualism and ecnomic dystopia and class gap that exists there. This is not just my opinion. I think you can ask most Europeans and they ll tell you the same.
@@toromontana8290 no, it is not a better system. And yeah, the fact you call poor people deadbeats is pretty telling on you lol. Europe will not get rid of the social support because it s the right thing to keep it. Europe s societies are definietly much healthier for the average individual than the US one. You dont believe me? There are literally international statistics over saftey, quality of life, food and so fort that show those things. Europe for now depends on the US military wise for sure but that is something EU is trying to change at the moment and it will. Just 18% of Europeans think the US democratic and societal model is a model to follow which is definietly not a big perantage of the population. That is because it s true, it s a dystopic ultra militarised society which doesn t give a crap about its population. Oh, yoi re poor but you want a higher education? Too bad I guess we re going to have to use you in the military and possibly have you killed abroad just for you to be able to be set to go to college. That is absolutely sick. Wellfare and military can absolutely be done at the same time. Look at the finnish or swiss military and you ll see. That is something that can be done while not let people starve on the streets especially after a life time of contributing to society. If anything as I said before I want Romania to resmable countries like Germany, Austria, Sweden and the like even if there is a long way until such a point rather than resemble the profound sick US society and military aparatus. I do vote for the sake of that porpouse, not for anything else and I will continue to vote in such a manner to have Romania resamble other European countries in the future as well. This is the road my country is on and I hope it wont stray away from it. I personally cannot understand your mentality, you seem to be literally ok to see elderly people or poor people starve as long as you have enough money for what you consider a good livelihood, but most people on this continent would rather live up in smaller appartments, use public transport, maybe own a small vehicle rather than have the suburban huge house just for the sake of being huge and being in need to use a car like in American society. I am greatful for the capitalist economic model as it is for it that I can find better payed positions ar foreign companies even remote ones. My degree cannot easily find me work in my city but working remote for a company that doesn t even physically exists in my country is a blessing. However the capitalism without any regards for human life, just money being on top of everything and nothing else mattering more is an absolutely sick way of thinking.
@@toromontana8290 lol, there is literally so much wrong with your mentality I dont want to even start. I think I have made my points before. You do not seem to have an issue with my country but with the whole social democrat system. Professors in my country are not payed well, it s true, but look up at countries like the Nordic European ones where professors are payed well and held in high regards. That is the type of society I asspire for my country, not the US one. And I may make less right now that un unqualified person in the US but I have my own home, I do not need a car since it s more handy to use public transport and i m well enough to go start a life in another country. From talking to Americans i d say I have had a better and more stable life experience rather than a big chunck of the population there despite my country being how it is. US is richer for a lot of different reasons I will not talk about his but the system is not good objectively when you compare it with a lot of Europe s societies. I have the option to go live into such a society if I so chose and that s going to be that. And you do not get my point at all. If you talk to most Europeans a lot of them will not want a huge suburban home not even if they can afford it like for real I have met rich people from Western countries that literally live up in appartments. The appartments may be more expensive than average but still, that s quite normal. The US citizen that swipes the streets that makes much more money than I do is in a much less stable situation because of well shitty medical insurance, or not insurance at all and possiblity of death, the fear of getting chicked out and not having the possibility to be helped by the state with housing if they get left on the street and so on. And they cannot get a higher education degree easily either. US seems to be a good place just for the rich. Meanwhile with my degree I could literally find a job in any other EU country of my chosing that has a healthier society than US could ever have. Like if I were given the choice I d rathet move inside EU and on the other side you couldn t pay me to live in the US. Romania as I said has its issues but I dearly hope it stays away from the US societal model and follows Europe. There is no point in convincing each other. I just think that objectively most of EU s states have better societies than US, far better and far healthier. I think US is good just if you re already rich or just for investments, but not to actually live there. Idk if you have ever expetienced living inside the EU and i mean somewhere in the West but you cannot seriously have experienced this and think your society is better off. That is honestly just propaganda. Edit: why unfriendly to car owners? It s totally fair to pay the taxes and the gas for something that polutes lots and it is not a necessity. You do not need a car to go around. You can use public transport or just walk. Cars are absolutely a poluting factor and I d hate to have to have a car to survive like in US society😂😂
As a Brit, you can keep 'em. The type you have scare the crap outta me (the spiders not the shoes)..... although you CAN send Agro and Anne-Maree over if you want. She's not scary at all. Quite the opposite....
There are successful third world countries that were in a much worse position than the Balkan countries, which managed to become first world countries. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan. There were also poor countries in Europe itself that were able to become quite successful, such as Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Finland, to some extent Greece and Cyprus (all of them were called the "periphery" of Europe). These countries did not try to build a communist system (at least not to the same extent as the USSR and its satellites). There are also post-communist countries that have achieved some success - Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Estonia. That is, the problem is not that capitalism is bad, but socialism is good (or vice versa), but that some countries managed to build working political institutions, and some did not. Even if you read the comments on this video, most write not about the fact that they do not have access to "free" health care or education, but that their countries are torn apart by corruption. Because of it, it is impossible to build a career, life plans, etc. And it has nothing to do with evil imperialist in "core" countries. If you live in Serbia, then this Serbian politician is promoting his relatives up the career ladder in the civil service. If you live in Albania, then this Albanian politician steals your taxes and puts them in his pocket. If you live in Russia, then this Russian politician is building a palace for himself instead of hospitals. Not American, French or German guy, but your compatriot.
I think you are very much oversimplifing here. Some of my ancestors were from Finland and they fought incredibly strongly for socialism when they came to the US. The fact that Finns fought against USSR rule doesn't mean that they embraced capitalism. Also the corrupt politicians in third world countries are indeed often supported by the capitalist core. Sometimes the CIA or other intelligence agencies even installed them in the first place, such as Pinochet in Chile.
Same situation started to appear among Turkish youth. Educated Turkish people are in search to leave the country as soon as possible to live in normal circumstances without any human rights violation, to earn just enough money just to cover their living expenses that are not even in high standards. It’s impossible to cover your life here. I’m a teacher and I earn less than 5.000 $ per year. I cannot pay my bills correctly. I couldnt pay my rent that was higher than my whole monthly salary. You may seem that Turkey has a high birth rate. That’s correct but most of them are refugees from Syria. Young Turkish and Kurdish couples do not prefer bring a child to this corrupt country. Per a syrian woman, the average children number is 9 in Turkey and our government gives them citizenship to make them vote for him. Turkey is on the edge of becoming one of these countries mentioned in this video and the key date is the upcoming elections on May the 14th.
Your country is too far gone I'm afraid. Don't expect a new president in the new election. Turkey has moved away from it's secular roots which made you a perfect example for the Islamic world. Your leaders want to take you back to the past and not the future.
@@dee6340 I totally agree with you but still have some little hopes! 🥺 they steal votes. Put the people who protest against the controversies about elections into jail. His vote is not majority but always find a way to change the results. Exactly same as Belarussian elections. Still have little hopes. I cannot live in a religious country.
Turkey has the youngest average population in the Balkans and at least you don't suffer from population decline. Don't forget that you are also mostly Muslim so like the rest of Muslim countries you have more babies than an average Christian country nowadays. Heck I remember nearly 10 years ago how you had 10 million less people than Germany but now you have like Iran population and even more than Germany.
@@omerfarukyesildag2867 I am quite interested in politics but I find Turkey as a really complicated country with all those minorities, Kurds, Syrians etc...Do you think that Turkey will boost as a dominant Turkic country in the next decade or it will collapse since Kurds make up 20% of countries population?
The same has happened in latin america ever since most of our countries became independent. That's why our population never exploded like south east Asia despite having plenty of resources. You could spot any hispanic migrant in all continents
Regarding the end of the video, it's sad, but it's already 'too late' and we 'lost' the game of capitalism, even people who are used to juggling debts and credits to stay afloat have felt the burn the past 10 years. The price of food stuffs and normal services has skyrocketed. Why stay in the country with some weird nebulous promises of a better future, improvement, etc. when you can go do basic work, pick strawberries, etc. abroad for the equivalent paycheck of a mid-level specialist in your own country? I am talking about Bulgaria, but from what I've talked to my fellow balkanites, the situation is the same everywhere.
Dear Balkan people. Come back and let's rebuild. As a Greek who lived for 8 years in the Netherlands and came back to his home country, this is the time to become a bit more selfless and be the change we want to see. It only starts from the individual level, not from the political world. Get your education, motivation, and ideas from abroad, and come back to do your part.
@@mile_381 Nah, Greece has way too much potential to just do nothing about it. Besides, I love Greece very much. I would not leave my home permanently for the Netherlands.
@@zedsian Of course you can say this, because you're greek, it's easy for you to enjoy life in a country such as greece. Then again, Poglavnik Atatürk was a hero!
Great monologue at the begining, but I would say the impulse of disgust inside you when corruption or injustice displays itself, is just as natural, even more natural, as any other phenomenon. Complacency in the face of such things is what's unnatural, and what is ugly.
I come from Serbia and I'm sorry, but, besides visiting my parents and grandparents, there is nothing for me there anymore. The country has lost me and many more with its circus of a government, close-minded people, and backwards "traditional family" values. The same people who committed crimes in the most recent wars there are still in power and there's nothing you can do about it because old people who are still nationalistic are the majority. A big factor for my leaving is also that I cannot get married to the person I want there because same-sex marriages are not legal there so that's kind of unique to my situation, but I would have left even if it wasn't the case.
I see that Westerners are pulling the "Capitalism favors the successful", and "Capitalism breeds innovation and better living standard" premises while ignoring the fact that Capitalism has utterly and categorically failed in Southeastern Europe, in particular, in former Yugoslavia. Socialist Yugoslavia, during her worst year in 1991, was the world's 24th economy with a debt comprising more or less 15% of its GDP, a developed, globally competing economy satisfying the needs of the majority of the Third World and the EEC at the same time: "Mutual interactions between the two sides intensified in the late 1980s and early 1990s but all progress was cut off as of 25 November 1991 due to the wars in Slovenia and Croatia. Prior to the cut-off, Yugoslavia was the EEC's second largest trade partner in the Mediterranean area, just after Algeria, with 90% of industrial imports from Yugoslavia to the EEC not subject to any duty.[2]". Not to mention that Yugoslavia was a domineering force in sports, culture, digital electronic computing, and robotics in its socialist form, and wielded global influence during the Cold War as a result of its Non-Aligned Movement and thus also had the majority vote in the UN, whereas today, it's capitalist successor states are the very opposite and are being destroyed by Western-propped neo-colonization, corruption, stagnation, destabilization, and subversion, and are, at best, vassal-states of Germany and the USA whose intelligence services operate with impunity in the territories of SE Europe. In summary, capitalism in former Yugoslavia did not favor the successful and it did not breed success, it did not and doesn't breed innovation and better living standards, it does the opposite - it is the preeminent reason why Yugoslavia's successor states did not retain their forefather's status of "developed economy", or better yet, it's status as a sovereign, global-competing state, and were reduced to the status of "developing economies" that are worse off than some war-torn, African states, and with staggeringly failing living standards and plummeting birth rates. The Capitalist West doesn't even breed success in its native, Western environments when its mere survival is tied to draining Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and the Third World of its workers and top education brass, and it doesn't even breed innovation when all of its technology is being manufactured in Taiwan and China, and better living standards are a straight-out lie and are reserved solely for the wealthy elites. Capitalism doesn't even breed competition because the West had demonstrated, time and time again, that it does not tolerate competition, but actively destroys it, like in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, and the attempt was made in Russia, but that has failed miserably, and we're all witness to that. If there is competition, the West will, in time, lose, there's a reason why the only solid guarantee of the American dollar, and with it, Western/Capitalist hegemony is the preeminent military power of the USA. Considering the current global geopolitical and economic situation, they're losing both the military might and the USA dollar-defined hegemony.
Capitalism works, it just needs to be strictly controlled and enforced. Whatever the fuck America has going on, it isn't working. And i think their power will significantly decline during this century.
Abolish private property, wage labour, and the profit motive? Wasn´t that exactly what had been tried in the second half of the 20th century in Eastern and Southeastern Europe? You haven´t had enough and want to try again, blaming all on the evil West and capitalism? What a load of bollocks. Instead, I would recommend good governance, overcoming ethnic hatred, and fighting against corruption. 40 years of dirty red rule = 100 years to fix all of that. Otherwise, Serbs will repeat their attempt at genocide and get schooled 'again' by less than 1% of NATO power. Do you really need that?
@@numenoreaneternity6682 Hahaha, even Montenegro and FYROM didn't want to be a part of Serboslavia, let alone Croatia and Slovenia. xD Don't worry though, it doesn't matter anymore, since the demographic collapse of your statelet is just a matter of time. ; ) Pray your brainless government doesn't try something stupid again, just like in the 90s, and you reap what you sow again; the total collapse will occur even faster as a result - if you like The Walking Dead, you'll be able to live it in real life, just without the zombies. ; ) Maybe you'll even try something as suicidal as ivans last February, who knows? xD Without great, actually European countries (unlike the non-Europeans from the east known as Serbs) like the United Kingdom or France you'd be living in your hovel without the internet, only spouting red bollocks to your red ballerinas there. xD As a Westerner, I love 50 IQ commies from all over the world, thanks to you I'll always know there's something worth dying for - or rather, killing for! Lavdi shqiperise, mate, thanks for the entertainment!
@@numenoreaneternity6682 Hahah, nah mate, my argument is super simple, so simple that even a red Serb would get it - send all the nazis and commies to Antarctica, so that they could larp there all day long and leave normal people in peace. That's a surefire way to make this world a better place, since nobody needs human scum in their country! I am not angry in the slightest, I'm just laughing with glee at you getting worked up over two dead German wankers from the 19th century who had a shitton of money themselves and wouldn't even piss in your direction. Well, commies are the biggest hypocrites/morally bankrupt people in this world, even more so than fanatically religious people, so I'm not surprised. xD Have fun with your red delusions. xD
what's worse is the number of westerners flocking here because they love our way of life and safety on their western salaries. i like it here, and I'm staying here, and i don't even want to leave. i i'd rather be poor here than rich there. what can i say, the balkans is a great place, a place i love and call home.
@@evilceochad884 Unbeliveabley corrupt countries.Infrastructure is rooten,political system is run by average IQ people at best,economy is incompetent,youth is hopeless.
The entire video could be summed up as "people leave for richer places" and "those places are rich because of capitalism". Nothing more. And what about some concrete ideas as how to fix it, not just what to get rid of. If you say "abolish private property", okay, how then do you propose to structure the economy? State monopolies? Coops? Syndicalism? People will stay if there will be viable economical future, but we need a more concrete plan that just "revolution"
I am running an Airbnb housing business in Greece atm, for summer vacations and after all I have been through for the first time in my life I see hope and feature....for me living in Greece. If it wasn't for that I would have moved to a different place yesterday. Especially after the massacre that happened few dasy ago in Greece with the train accident.
The problem is that unlike other developing regions of the world, this economic stage for eastern europe and the balkans has occured after the birth rate collapsed. Usually the native population is still growing rapidly despite emmigration at this point, so it isn't that big of a deal, and might even be viewed as convenient.
I am from a small town in Lithuania and it hits hard. We had the biggest inflation in EU for a few years now, our food prices are more expensive than in most Western countries and there is a lack of jobs. On paper it looks good, our average wage grew, but it is completely destroyed by the fact that most people don't even receive their wage at all. Most employers just don't pay your wage at all, and if you complain they would just fire you. I went to a job interview recently as a snow plower, and they just straight up told me that i would have to pay almost all my wage for the "maintenance" of the truck. There so many jobs where employers ask you to bring the wage that you just received, to them. And you can't really complain since you lose your job and these companies never get shut down. Right now, the big logistics companies complain that there is a lack of truck drivers, but that is not true. They are just hiring people from poor asian countries who will work for almost nothing. Most of the jobs are slowly being replaced by foreigners. It is so annoying to hear that some people only visit Vilnius and say "what a beautiful country", while everything outside the capital city looks like a barren wasteland.
Seeing how your country, along with your neighbours act internationally it would seem like it's all Russia's fault. The "free" world ain't treating you right after all, is it?
Canada has had a massive brain drain to usa for the last 100 years. Cape Breton a small area has had major negative population growth to the rest of Canada because of the closure of coal mines. You can view this negatively and blame capitalism and democracy. The truth is we all pay horribly or benefit from the miscalculations of our parents. What would happen if the eu, usa, or canada did not allow this migration? Many of these people would not be educated, or worse educated with no job and a pile of debt increasing interest rates meaning less education. More people and fewer resources mean the poor would be much poorer. Corruption in all its forms is what steals your children's future mislaying the blame will only make it worse and entitle corrupt politicians.
Romanians are becoming one of the largest ethnic minorities in the UK. The majority of immigrants arriving to the UK are Romamian from comparing the 2021 to the 2011 UK and Wales census
As a Bosnian, if I could leave, the only thing that would make me want to stay in this shithole is that our strawberries have an ACTUAL TASTE, but I'm sure I could find some person who sells fruits that don't taste like a plastic pen.
After WW2 many Italians moved in north of Europe for better life. Italy wasn't depleted, eventually the economy grew enough that the relative advantage to move north became unattractive. It is not fault of capitalism that people are leaving balcans but lack of true market economy. Balkans were plagued with corruption since otoman times and communism made things worse.
Unfortunately you are right. Yugoslavia had socialist system (as good as it gets!) for several decades. No new revolution was needed. And still, people didn't keep it...
