Family Matters
Best local story by National Geographic for November 2011
Family Matters
The exodus of young people from some parts of Serbia has unexpectedly started in 1990s, when faced with wars and the postwar period, the great number of them emigrated to economically stable countries. According to the latest data, about 20% of Serbian population is more than 65 years old. In addition, in the last ten years there have been no newborns in 370 villages. Therefore, women from Albania frequently present the only salvation from the extinction of the family tree and fulfilling desires of the hearth. When they meet, their communication is mostly limited to body language, since their mother tongues are so different. The huge differences between them do not end up there: they are also of different religion, as well as they are divider by a big generation gap – men are usually more than twenty years older than women. However, many of these couples find their common language fast and create stable families.