engleski

The contemporary migration of Croats to Germany

During the past 30 years, nearly 8 million people are estimated to have left the region of Southeastern Europe. This large outflow from Southeastern Eu- rope amounted to about 17% of the early-1990s population (Atoyan et all, 2016). According to Atoyan et all. (2016), between 1990 and 2012, outward migration from Southeastern Europe shaved off more than 8 percentage points from cumulative population growth. As a result, local populations in most countries in the region have been stagnant or shrinking. Analysis of detailed migration data available at national statistical offices of the new EU member states showed that average characteristics of emigrants from NMS are similar across countries. The main destination country for most countries in the sample was Germany. With the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union in 2013, the emigration of Croats to Germany has increased. The first big emi- gration happened in the 1960s and 1970s, and the second occurred during the ‘homeland war’ (1992–1995). Massive emigration from Croatia begun in July 2015, when Germany opened its labour market for workers with Croatian pass- ports. Although most Croatian politicians and scientists expected moderate in- fluence, Croatia’s accession to the EU proved to be an important impetus for emigration as it created new perspectives and alternatives in the search for a better life (Jurić 2018.). We observe that emigration is intensifying with every year since Croatia joined the EU, and that it has been increasing since 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 in particular (for more detailed information, see below). The main and basic goal of this research was to determine the motivation of Croats to emigrate to Germany. The paper presents the results of the research into the motives and characteristics of the recent immigration of Croats into the Federal Republic of Germany. It is based on our research carried out in Germany, some of which has already been published in Croatia in the book Iseljavanje Hrvata u Njemačku. Gubimo li Hrvatsku? (Jurić 2018).

migration of Croats, Germany, Emigration, Croatia, return, Germany, Emigration from Croatia to Germany

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