About a third of Montenegrin citizens, i.e. 213.478 people, lived abroad on the day of the census on October 31, 2023. Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) submitted from the Society of Statisticians and Demographers of Montenegro (DSDCG).
That slightly more than 44 thousand citizens of Montenegro live outside its borders, announced the Administration for Statistics (Monstat), referring to the data obtained in last year's census.
"Although the census collected data for 44.017 people, this is only 20 percent of the estimated number of the diaspora, while 80 percent, 169.461 people, were not included, because at the time of the census they did not have a household member present in Montenegro who would provide data on their behalf" , he tells CIN-CG Gordana Radojevic from DSDCG.
Radojević, who was the director of Monstat for many years, explains that this shows that traditional censuses are not a reliable source of information about the diaspora, or Montenegrin citizens abroad.
"That is why it is necessary to conduct a special research that would enable citizens in the diaspora to submit the requested data via an electronic form. The initiative for this research to be part of the 2023 population census was defined by a special conclusion of the Government from 2018," she says.
Despite the conclusion of the then Government Duško Marković, even after the census we do not know the exact number of Montenegrin citizens abroad. The Ministry of Diaspora (MD) says that Montenegro does not have precise and accurate data on the number of diaspora.
"The existing registers have not been updated and therefore the Ministry of Diaspora has set the goal of creating a diaspora register as its primary task. We are already working on the technical plan for creating the register and we expect it to be presented to the general public and especially to our diaspora in 2025".
The goal of the registry is to obtain at least approximately accurate data on the number of our people in the diaspora, through a standard demographic questionnaire, the government department explains.
Migration is changing the demography of Montenegro, which has already led to serious crises.
"If appropriate demographic recovery measures are not taken, the depopulation process will spread unstoppably. Low fertility, longer life expectancy and migration have changed the demographic picture of many areas in Montenegro," says the demographer Miroslav Doderović for CIN-CG.
In addition to the numerous facts about depopulation published after the recent presentation of the census results, Doderović adds the fact that the participation of people over 65 years of age, according to the census data from 1971, in Montenegro was 7,1 percent, while the data of the latest census showed that their participation is 16,8 percent.
Unemployment and low income are the main reasons for young people leaving
A fifth of young people in Montenegro - 20,59 percent of them - expressed their desire to leave the country due to poor social, living and economic standards and conditions, according to the results of the Study on young people from Southeast Europe in 2024 by the "Friedrich Ebert" Foundation.
"The main reasons for the departure of young people are the inability to find a job in their profession, low incomes and a low standard of living," says Doderović.
In addition to the characteristics of the labor market, a whole series of policies such as education, housing, tax policy, labor market policy, nepotism and corruption make the position of young people and their integration in society difficult. This is especially true for young people, precisely those who migrate and those who should be the bearers of positive demographic changes, he points out.
"The population census is currently the only source of data on young people studying abroad. According to the latest census, 8.230 citizens of Montenegro are staying abroad for education, of which 43 percent or 3.607 people are studying in Serbia," says Radojević.
A young stage artist Sara Vujadinović has been in Lisbon for nine years. The reason for leaving Montenegro was a scholarship for master's studies.
"My reason for applying was that I felt the need for a wider space that would provide me with more opportunities for the education that interests me and for the very realization of what I would like to do and create."
"I would return to Montenegro with the intention of somehow 'bringing' and developing what I do in Lisbon, which does not really exist in our country, which is dance theater. That is very important to me on a personal level, but I would only return if I knew I could return to Lisbon, because I am afraid that I would be disappointed by the narrowness of the art scene and the lack of opportunities here," Vujadinović points out.
Although institutions in the country do not have precise data on the diaspora, some expatriate associations have certain data. President of the Montenegrin Ethnic Community of Australia, Mihailo Mandic he says that there are about 5.000 of our citizens in Australia.
Mandić emphasizes that the younger generations are leaving Montenegro, because they cannot cope with the obvious injustice they encounter at every step.
"Nepotism, corruption, political primitivism, religious dullness are part of the atmosphere, which is why civilized, intelligent, capable and educated people do not want to be part of it. They are looking for organized systems in which their knowledge and abilities will come to the fore and in which they will have protection as their citizens", he points out.
In contrast to the second half of the last century, when most of the less qualified workforce left the country, in recent decades many highly educated people have left the country.
"Montenegro produces more health workers than the average of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but most of the current doctors are thinking about leaving and there is already a shortage of certain specialists in some health sectors," explains Doderović.
The lack of workers and staff in Montenegro is not only noted in healthcare, but affects all areas.
Germany - one of the most desirable countries for migration
Economic motives are dominant when it comes to emigration to Western countries, but in the case of Montenegro there is a whole series of additional motives. This is also confirmed by Monstat data - as the reason for leaving Montenegro, the largest number of enumerated citizens in 2023 cited the economy, 21.449 of them, while 10.735 Montenegrin citizens were abroad for family reasons.
"On the one hand, you have highly educated staff, who see in leaving an opportunity to advance professionally, but also to provide for their families financially. And on the other hand, you have low-educated personnel who see in the system in Western Europe, Germany, an opportunity to ensure their basic existence", explains Doderović.
Of the countries of Western Europe, Germany is in both cases at the very top of attractiveness for emigration from Montenegro, especially the north of Montenegro. The largest number of registered Montenegrin citizens work, study or reside in Germany, 10.413, according to Monstat data.
"Unfortunately, the Ministry of the Interior does not have accurate data on the number of evicted citizens or the reasons for their departure, because those who leave Montenegro do not register their residence in order to retain certain rights in Montenegro, which makes it difficult to assess the extent of total migration. Therefore, systematic monitoring of migration is the first and most important step, especially bearing in mind that according to research on young people, we have a stable 50 percent of young people who want to leave Montenegro", says Doderović.
According to Monstat data, Germany, Serbia and the United States of America (USA) are at the top of the list of countries that our citizens choose for work, residence or education. After those three countries, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Slovenia follow.
The MD says that most of our diaspora is in the region, but also in the countries of Western Europe, such as Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland.
"Our diaspora is also numerous in North America and Canada. When it comes to emigrants, Turkey and the countries of Latin America must certainly be mentioned," said the department Mirsad Azemović.
President of the Association of Associations of Montenegro in Germany (SCANJ) Nedžad Nurković says that it is difficult to determine how many Montenegrin citizens are in Germany, but according to his estimates, there are about 70 thousand of them.
So, this is a huge number, more than 10 percent of the total number of Montenegrin residents.
There is an interesting photo that is circulating on social networks, taken in the lobby of a building in Munich, where it can be seen by the surnames that almost all the tenants of that building are from our area.
It is estimated that there are 550 thousand Montenegrin citizens abroad
Construction professions, medical personnel - nurses and technicians, caregivers of the elderly and hygienists are the jobs that our people most often do in Germany, says Nurković.
Mandić says that Montenegrins immigrated to Australia in waves. Previously, mostly uneducated people came to do various physical jobs.
"These were jobs in construction, communal services, mining... In addition to them came mechanics, drivers, service workers, so that the newer generation came with an enviable completed university education and knowledge of the English language. They have found better jobs that bring greater financial security. Today, there are many of ours who teach at universities around Australia, doctors and dentists, as well as in the banking sector, accounting, private businesses, etc., he tells CIN-CG.
In addition to the new generation of emigrants, there are a large number of people of our origin around the world, about which there are also no reliable statistics, nor does the state take special care of it.
Combining available data with estimates of the number of our emigrants in certain parts of the world, Professor Doderović says that it can be estimated that around 550.000 people of our origin live outside the borders of Montenegro.
According to his estimates, about 100.000 people of Montenegrin origin live in Turkey alone, about 40.000 are in the USA, 30.000 in Argentina, 25-30.000 in Germany, 12.000 in Luxembourg and the same number in Albania.
In addition to the fact that the Montenegrin authorities do not have records of the number of our citizens living abroad, especially those whose ancestors left Montenegro a long time ago, many interlocutors of CIN-CG from the diaspora say that no one from their home country has contacted them or supported them on any way. State affairs outside of Montenegro are reduced mainly to administration regarding the issuance of documents by consulates and embassies. There is no designed policy, gathering around some initiatives from culture, art, economic projects, which is what organized states do, which take care of their citizens wherever they are.
If adequate demographic recovery measures are not taken, the depopulation process will spread unstoppably. Low fertility, longer life expectancy and migration have changed the demographic picture of many areas in Montenegro, says demographer Miroslav Doderović.
The state thus renounces its citizens who could give back and contribute a lot to the country they came from, in the economic, cultural, scientific and other fields. Countries from the region, especially Serbia and Croatia, have a much more serious attitude towards their own diaspora, which contributes significantly to those countries.
According to estimates, there are about 40.000 expatriates from Montenegro living in the USA. Most of them are in big cities - New York, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco.
Senad Perazic runs the Cultural Center "Rumija" in Chicago. The center was founded in 1996 and has around 200 members, mostly emigrants from the municipality of Bar. Perazić believes that the largest diaspora in the USA is in New York, although he says that it is difficult to answer how many Montenegrin citizens there are in that country.
"Earlier generations of emigrants were engaged in various jobs, building maintenance, crafts. Today we have a completely different picture, where our emigrants are owners of small and medium-sized businesses, doctors, lawyers, engineers...'', states Perazić and adds that the main reason they left Montenegro was economic in nature.
"As far as cooperation with the institutions of the home country is concerned, they were quite good until three or four years ago. We had visits every year from the Directorate for the Diaspora, as well as from the President of the Municipality of Bar. In recent years, this has been absent, so I would say that there is little or no cooperation,'' concludes Perazić.
President of the Association of Montenegrins from Bolivia Stevan Micovic, tells CIN-CG that there are about 900 Montenegrin descendants in that country, while there are significantly more of them on the entire continent of South America.
The great wave of immigration of our people to Latin America was at the beginning of the last century. Gordan Stojović, the former ambassador of Montenegro in Argentina, says that this country was inhabited from 1918 to 1953 by about 18.000 people who were born on the territory of today's Montenegro. He believes that at least 60 to 80 descendants of emigrants who trace their roots from Montenegro to some of the family's sides live in Argenita.
"In the past decades, the country went through various periods, from complete ignorance and ignoring that the descendants of our emigrants exist, until one of the key moments of institutionalization, which is reflected in the opening of the embassy as an extended hand to them. Numerous projects followed in the years after that, and I think that in the last 27 years, a lot of things have been moved from scratch, with the great effort of us enthusiasts, civilians, the media... For the last two years, I have visited Argentina regularly and I can notice that the emigrant institutions there they have an extended hand and want to work on further strengthening cooperation with Montenegro,'' says Stojović.
"At the moment, there are no support programs from the Government of Montenegro, at least not in Bolivia. By 2018, we had a great start in returning to our roots thanks to the support of former ambassador Gordan Stojović, who was ambassador to Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay. At the moment we are forgotten by the Government of Montenegro and by the current diplomats in Buenos Aires, we do not know the name of the ambassador, in case he has been appointed for now", says Mićović.
The Montenegrin community in Uruguay has about 300 members, mostly in Montevideo and Carmel, says the president of the Montenegrin community in Uruguay Daniel Klisic. He states that their immigration is very old, most of them arrived at the beginning of the 20th century, but they managed to preserve customs and recently to restore our language.
And the artist Vujadinović told CIN-CG that she does not have any support from the Montenegrin authorities or Montenegrin institutions.v"On a couple of occasions, a few years ago, I applied for certain open funds for art at the Ministry of Culture, but I never even received a response ”, she says.
Monstat's census data showed that after Germany, the most Montenegrin citizens live in Serbia - 7.346, followed by 6.428 in the USA, 3.578 in Luxembourg, 1.987 in Switzerland, 1.408 in Sweden, and 1.381 in France.
Data show that emigration has been increasing in recent years. As stated in the publication of Monstat, 2023 Montenegrin citizens went to work, study or stay abroad in 6.930, which is twice as much as the year before when 3.394 citizens left Montenegro.
During 2021, 2.786 went abroad, and in 2020 - 2.396. Data show that from 2015 to 2019, 8.499 left Montenegro, again twice as many as in the period from 2010 to 2014, when 4.180 of our citizens left Montenegro.
Emigration also affects the ethnic structure of Montenegro. It is interesting that considering the share in the number of inhabitants, Bosniaks, Albanians and Muslims move out the most. Enumerated citizens of Montenegro working, studying or staying outside Montenegro according to their national or ethnic affiliation declared themselves as follows: Bosniaks - 15.486, Serbs - 11.789, Montenegrins - 8.790, Albanians - 4.938, Muslims - 1.628... When in the question of the geographic location, the largest number of registered persons who work and study abroad is from Podgorica and that's 6.384 of them.
"Census data on the number of citizens living abroad can only provide a partial insight, but cannot be considered a precise reflection of the overall national structure of citizens of Montenegro living abroad. In order to ensure greater representativeness of the data, it was necessary to consider introducing the possibility of electronic enumeration. This would allow expats to participate in the census without physical presence. Such a solution would significantly improve the coverage and accuracy of data on emigrants and enable a better analysis of their characteristics, including the national structure," Radojević points out.
Migration in Montenegro will be significantly affected by the upcoming expected integration into the European Union (EU) and global trends. According to the data of the Croatian State Bureau of Statistics, 2013 people have left the country since joining the EU in 2023 until 389.197. In the last ten years, every ninth resident left Croatia, every tenth left Bulgaria.
Bearing in mind the climatic advantages of Montenegro, as well as EU integration, it can be expected that a certain number of foreign citizens will come to live in Montenegro. The influx of population will be from different parts of the world and of different ages. It is expected that a number of elderly people will come here because of the climate and favorable living conditions, as happened, for example, in Spain. According to one of Monstat's scenarios, in the coming period, a large number of immigrants will come from Asian and African countries, motivated by various reasons, including requests for international protection.
History of emigration from Montenegro
In Montenegro, about 130.000 citizens live on the edge of poverty, of which only 19.400 have the right to material security. Social benefits range from 86 to 167 euros and it is difficult to live with that money, explains demographer Doderović for CIN-CG.
"In our country, the authorities do not mention the poverty of employees and unfair and inappropriately high employment in the public administration. Social housing as a way of reducing the poverty of the socially vulnerable, but not only them, is not enough in the focus of public policy makers. The social pension still hasn't taken off," says Doderović.
In the past decades, the country went through various periods, from complete ignorance and ignoring that the descendants of our emigrants exist, until one of the key moments of institutionalization, which is reflected in the opening of the embassy as an extended hand to them, says Gordan Stojović, former ambassador of Montenegro to Argentina.
Even in the past, people emigrated from Montenegro mainly because of poverty. Migrations were intense in the 18th century, and massive in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, especially after the Balkan, First and Second World Wars.
"Although it can be said of Montenegro that 'it settled others, but did not displace itself', nevertheless its emigration, scattered in smaller or larger groups, enclaves and colonies, in the span of several centuries, was largely lost in the new environment '', Doderović states.
After international recognition in 1878 at the Berlin Congress, the first population census was conducted in Montenegro. In work Djordje Pejović "Emigration of Montenegrins in the 1962th century", Titograd, 200.000, states that the country had about XNUMX inhabitants at the time of recognition.
Pejović writes about the years in which there was an "epidemic of hunger", so during the 19th century there were over two decades of famine, then epidemics - cholera, smallpox, children's diseases... It was believed that in 1898 in Montenegro had about 200.000 inhabitants, and that only three years later, in 1901, this number amounted to about 160.000. The example given is that in 1907 there were only about 15.000 Montenegrins working in America, and on the eve of the Balkan war 20.000, or about 10 percent of the total population.
The 1921 population census was the first organized and systematic method of obtaining not only a reliable number, but also other characteristics of the population of Montenegro. At that time, Montenegro was annexed to the Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro, and 311.341 inhabitants lived within its current borders.
In the 1931 census, Montenegro had 360.044 inhabitants in today's borders. The population census that was supposed to be held in 1941 was not carried out due to the start of the Second World War. However, it is estimated that in that year, Montenegro, within today's borders, had 425.964 inhabitants.
In the 1971 census, when a large number of Yugoslavs went to work abroad, the number of registered Montenegrin residents abroad was 11 thousand, in 1981 that number increased to 18 thousand, in 1991 to 23 thousand, and in 2003, when were last counted, their number was 55 thousand. Even these figures are not precise because the records of emigrants were not kept precisely.
130.000 citizens in Montenegro live on the edge of poverty
The fact that people leave Montenegro continuously, mostly younger residents, is also evidenced by the official data of Monstat, according to which Montenegro had 1991 thousand inhabitants in the 615.035 census, and 32 years later in 2023, only a few thousand more - 623.633, including over 90 thousands of foreign citizens.
The natural increase was positive every year and totaled 1991 for the period from 2015 to 73.126. The number of immigrants from abroad in this period is at least 72 thousand. This means that the number of inhabitants, if there had been no emigration, should have been higher by 145 thousand.
"The number of citizens that Montenegro 'lost' in this period is twice as large as the municipality of Nikšić," concludes demographer Doderović. According to United Nations (UN) estimates, Montenegro will have 2050 thousand fewer inhabitants in 93.
Bonus video:
