The main finding of this report is that people in Southeastern Europe don’t move as much as is presumed – or feared – in the West. Just 3% of Romanians, 4% of Bulgarians, and only 2% of Macedonians would settle permanently abroad. 58% have not made it as far as Bucharest, the national capital, and 41%, most of whom are peasants, have not travelled to the capital of their county. 84% of Bulgarians have never been to a distant foreign country and 78% have not travelled to a neighbouring country. Even if Schengen visas are lifted for the Western Balkan countries, as they have been for Romania and Bulgaria, the large majority of the population would not even travel abroad. The report finds positive economic effects of migration, both for the sending and receiving countries. A recent study finds that migration to the West of 1% of the population from the new member states would increase aggregate GDP in the sending and receiving countries by 0.2 to 0.3% respectively. Evidence from Albania, Romania and Bulgaria shows that the money which migrants send home prevents a large number of people from falling below the poverty threshold, contributes modestly to local development and boosts consumption spending, which contributes to the high rates of growth in these countries.