19 Sep How Corruption Is Driving Eastern Europe’s Brain Drain

Every summer, Svetlana Buzea and her family pack the car and drive from Germany through Poland and Ukraine to her native Moldova for vacation. Every time she comes back, Svetlana has no regrets about having left her homeland six years ago.

“People are now very, very poor in my country. Everything has become so expensive,” she said. “Above all, it’s the corruption. I can’t stand it. You even have to pay a bribe in order to get an appointment with the doctor. That is one of the main reasons why I left in the first place.”