Western Balkan migration: win-win or brain drain?  

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie speaks about migration trends in the Western Balkans with Bruegel’s Nina Vujanovic and Nina Ruer, as well as Professor Herbert Brücker from Berlin’s Humboldt University in Germany, Since 2015, workers have been heading to Germany from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo, aided by a regulation specific to that region. How have those workers assimilated? What has been the effect on the countries they leave behind? Can better policy address youth unemployment and skills shortages? The discussion tackles the data, the outlook and the political context for Germany, the Western Balkan countries and the EU accession process.

Relevant research:

• Ruer, N. and N. Vujanović (2025) ‘Migration flows from the Western Balkans to Germany: implications and recommendations’, Working Paper 19/2025, Bruegel
• Ruer, N. and N. Vujanović (2025) 'Understanding Serbian youth discontent through the lens of the labour market', Analysis, Bruegel