Emigration from Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) has been unusually large, persistent, and dominated by educated and young people, whose exodus has worsened already adverse demographic trends in CESEE, the IMF has said.

“After the fall of the Iron Curtain in the early 1990s, the next quarter century featured large and persistent east-west migration flows. The Southeastern European (SEE) economies typically saw appreciably larger labor outflows than the Baltic and Central European countries,” the IMF said in a staff discussion note entitled “Emigration and Its Economic Impact on Eastern Europe” released last week.

During the past 25 years, nearly 20 million people, or 5.5% of the CESEE population are estimated to have left the region, according to the IMF.

Emigration has led to positive outcomes for CESEE migrants themselves, and for the European Union as a whole. However, large-scale emigration may also have slowed growth and income convergence in CESEE economies, the IMF said.

“With income and institutional quality differentials between CESEE and Western Europe still wide, the push and pull factors driving emigration are likely to persist for some time. In the absence of determined and coordinated policies, there is a risk that emigration and slower income convergence may become mutually reinforcing”, according to the IMF.

You can access the IMF report here.

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