Rural Albanians abandon the countryside in search of work

A young boy looks at a house that now lies abandoned after its inhabitants moved away from the village of Shishtavec, Albania. In the past year a wave of people have left villages like Shishtavec looking for work in the European Union but many are sent back to Albania as Germany has labeled it a "safe" country.

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Filename: 20150818-spiegel-3981.JPG
Copyright: Elie Gardner
Image Size: 3600x2400 / 7.9MB; albania immigration village poverty european union farm country unemployment jobs economic migrant
Contained in galleries: Abandoning Rural Albania for Der Spiegel, Abandoning Rural Albania

A young boy looks at a house that now lies abandoned after its inhabitants moved away from the village of Shishtavec, Albania. In the past year a wave of people have left villages like Shishtavec looking for work in the European Union but many are sent back to Albania as Germany has labeled it a "safe" country.