The abandoned city of Orikum has a total of 12 thousand registered residents, however, a staggering 30% of young people have left in the past decade, in search of a better life abroad.
According to the head of the administrative division Selim Hyskocelaj, the main reason for this mass exodus lies in the high demands of the younger generation for a better life.
“The main factor doesn’t have to be the lack of jobs but this greatly relies on the demands of young people. Orikum is one of the most prosperous areas in the entire country when it comes to tourism, which requires highly qualified people and a good part of our youth fits perfectly with the demands of a developing tourism sector,” – said Hyskocelaj.
“Orikum has a total of 12 000 residents, whereas around 30% of our youth has left in the last 10 years. They find a job there, stay for some time and return their investments back to Orikum. The workforce in our city is always in a void. We’re always looking for workers that come during the summertime from May-September, from other cities like Librazhd, Kukes, the villages of Korca, etc, because our youth have higher demands,” – he added.
In addition, the city’s Civil Office specialist, Dorjana Hibroj, said that in the past 7 years, they’ve noticed an increase in the number of births which might initially indicate an increase in population however, the majority of births took place abroad.
Orikum isn’t only facing a depopulation problem, but also a reduction in the number of high school students.
The local public high school – Hasan Pulo – reports that the number of students is shrinking by the year.
In 2021 alone, the work-eligible population in Orikum went down by 20%.
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