{"id":31758,"date":"2022-02-18T13:58:16","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T12:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=31758"},"modified":"2022-02-18T14:00:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T13:00:26","slug":"whats-going-on-in-the-abandoned-city-of-orikum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/whats-going-on-in-the-abandoned-city-of-orikum\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s going on in the abandoned city of Orikum?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main factor doesn\u2019t 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,\u201d \u2013 said Hyskocelaj.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrikum 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\u2019re 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,\u201d \u2013 he added.<\/p>\n

In addition, the city\u2019s Civil Office specialist, Dorjana Hibroj, said that in the past 7 years, they\u2019ve noticed an increase in the number of births which might initially indicate an increase in population however, the majority of births took place abroad.<\/p>\n

Orikum isn\u2019t only facing a depopulation problem, but also a reduction in the number of high school students.<\/p>\n

The local public high school \u2013 Hasan Pulo \u2013 reports that the number of students is shrinking by the year.<\/p>\n

In 2021 alone, the work-eligible population in Orikum went down by 20%.<\/p>\n

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