PRISTINA, July 12, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Kosovo's population has dropped by more

than 10 percent in 13 years, according to census results released Friday,
which was boycotted by ethnic Serbs.

The population fell from nearly 1.8 million to 1.58 million people, according
to the first official results of the nationwide census, that was conducted in
April and May.

"The final results are expected to be published in December," director of the
national Agency for Statistics (ASK) Avni Kastrati told reporters and added
that they could "differ slightly".

The census was boycotted by many of Kosovo's 120,000-strong Serb minority, he
said.

In the country's four Serb-majority northern municipalities "there was a
large scale boycott", Kastrati said.

Ethnic Serbs boycotted the previous census in 2011.

The latter showed that Kosovo was home to 1.8 million people with around 93
percent of them ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo is facing a massive outflow of people seeking to work abroad, mostly
in the European Union countries.

Demographic experts estimate that 800,000 Kosovans live and work in the
European Union, half of them in Germany.

Ethnic Serbs did not participate in the census, due to recent tensions with
the authorities in Pristina, notably in the north.

The last factor inflaming tensions was the implementation of a controversial
new law in February, which made the euro Kosovo's only legal currency,
effectively outlawing the Serbian dinar.

The move prompted the biggest Serb party in Kosovo to urge for boycotting the
census.

Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008.

But Serbia still does not recognise the move.

It continues to finance parallel health, education and social security
systems for Kosovo Serbs, which makes them more loyal to Belgrade than to
Pristina.

Census counts are delicate matters in many Balkan countries, where plunging
birth rates, mass migration and ethnic tensions undercut efforts to provide
accurate population figures.