Is the Balkans becoming more developed now?

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Aleikumselam@reddit

Serbia has higher salaries than Germany.Average 2000-3000 eur.

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Skidbladmir@reddit

nah the average monthly salary in serbia is 10k+ euros

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Leading-Attempt-7364@reddit

Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Croatia yes, others also yes but slower.

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desertedlamp4@reddit

Slovenia is literally more developed than Austria (HDI-wise)

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tipoftheiceberg1234@reddit

50/50

They’re so geographically in the Balkans and have ottoman influence but other than that no they’re not really

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Kosovo gets better and better each time I go prob from diaspora and drug money but hey it’s not like the rest of Europe is going out of their way to integrate us Balkan countries so guess what? We’ll find our own way towards development.

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IAMTHAT9@reddit

Well drug money has changed the landscape of tirana, skyscrapers everywhere.

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Duncekid101@reddit

Belgrade too! #bffs

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IAMTHAT9@reddit

Ajde! 🍻

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Duncekid101@reddit

Gëzuuaar! 🍻

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AcanthocephalaSea410@reddit

As Türkiye develops, the Balkans also develops.

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tipoftheiceberg1234@reddit

I’m not counting Slovenia in this as it’s not really Balkan.

Croatia is a hybrid Central European/balkan country and it’s one of the better countries in the Balkans.

Greece Romania and Bulgaria follow. When you’re in the EU progress is just bound to happen.

I’ve seen Albania trying to make a name for itself and it’s a valiant effort because them and Kosovo need the most help.

Bosnias just going to stay stagnant and while Serbia might not change initially, this wave of protests planted many seeds. Macedonia also tries its best.

Montenegro uses the Euro and they have a good tourist business going on. Say what you want but they’re chilling and it looks promising for them

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Metanasths@reddit

You cant put Greece into the same category with other Balkan countries. It is a 0.91 HDI country. Only Slovenia is ahead.

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maximhar@reddit

Greece has such a high HDI because of its high average life expectancy. I’d argue that a big chunk of that is due to cultural and climate factors that are hard to change, and not a result of greater societal development. GDP/capita or GDP/capita PPP is probably a better measure when discussing strictly development.

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Metanasths@reddit

You are discussing economic factors which for Greece is meaningless cause everybody is underdeclaring his income. Let the experts do their job and dont try to second guess them. But its reddit so...ok.

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Poglavnik_Majmuna01@reddit

That is the case for every single country in the Balkans. The unfortunate truth is that Greece is being surpassed by other Balkan countries or has been surpassed already.

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Spagete_cu_branza@reddit

You should always second guess "the experts". You will realize that a lot of times these experts are no experts at all. Or they are intentionally introducing bias in their study - if someone pays them.

More or less the same with journalists. They spew propaganda based on who their owners are.

And Greece is not doing great, stop lying to yourself.

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Metanasths@reddit

I am not lying to myself. Except the purchasing power which is a nice joke (everybody living here knows the truth) greece is a top performer economically.

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tipoftheiceberg1234@reddit

Yeah Slovenia shouldn’t even be counted it’s Central European.

You’re right about Greece though. I always subconsciously group it lower than it is because something about its geography always gives me “emerging/developing” vibes.

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Dqmirr@reddit

Bosnia and Herzegovina is mostly staying in the same place for years now.

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2024-2025@reddit

It is becoming better. People like to joke how bad it is but it’s still a better place to live in than a great majority of worlds countries.

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Desperate-Care2192@reddit

But that has been the case for at least previous 60 years.

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The_Espgut@reddit

Lol

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IntelligentPlate5051@reddit

For a country like Albania it is light years ahead what it was 20 years ago and give it another 10 and it will be unrecognizable. Same with Kosovo. When you start with zero it's easy to rapidly develop and some of the developments have been impressive. The highways, new train system (for Albania), city beautification (more so for Albanian cities), etc, have been impressive. Still a long ways to go.

Countries like Serbia less so because they started at a higher point from Yugoslavia.

As someone who visits North Macedonia frequently my whole life not much has changed since I was a kid. Only Skopje has become more developed and modern but the rest of the country is the same to me. Trash, poor infrastructure in the second tier cities, lack of civil services, etc, still haunt the second tier cities.

I suspect for most Balkans outside Croatia and Albania/Kosovo (due to these being dirt poor histortically) only the capital cities has really seen mass development and modernized.

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