A socio-economic picture of Kosovar migrants and their origin farm households

Kosovo's small economy substantially relies on money from abroad: an extraordinarily high number of migrants contribute to foreign capital inflow through remittances; remittances represented around 13% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009. This means that the well-being of many Kosovar families financially depends on their migrated family members (UNDP 2010). The most important destination of Kosovar migrants, Germany, alone hosts an estimated number of around 300,000 Albanian migrants from Kosovo. This is about half of all migrated Kosovar Albanians. However, reliable information on the specific situation of the migrants and their origin households is scarce. Adding to recent efforts to gain more knowledge about Kosovo and its remittances sending migrants, e.g. the UNDP's 2010 Kosovo Remittance Study, this discussion paper puts a specific focus on rural Kosovo, where many migrants come from and more than half of the Kosovar population and two thirds of the poor live (World Bank and SOK 2011). Our study aims at shedding light on the socio-economic situation of Kosovar farm households with migrants in Germany. We present data on both sides of migration: the migrant household in the destination country as well as the remittances receiving household in Kosovo. In our analysis of migrant households, we present results on socio-economic features of three migration waves. Individual demographic characteristics of the migrant are analysed as well as economic features including the income situation and the remitting behaviour. We furthermore discuss the nature of migration - if it is planned as a temporary or permanent move - and the return prospects of the migrants. For the corresponding farm households in Kosovo we present results on their socio-economic situation and specifically look at poverty and inequality indicators and discuss possible development impacts in the recipient households. We analyse an original sample of 226 Albanian migrants from Kosovo who have been interviewed by means of a structured questionnaire in 2009/10 in Germany as well as the corresponding sample of their origin farm households in rural Kosovo. For a comparison of recipient with non-recipient households we draw from an additional set of 55 non-recipient Kosovar households.