A substantial emigration from Kosovo has been taken place in various phases during the second half of the 20th century. It is estimated that about a third of people of Kosovan descent currently live outside of Kosovo. Emigration has taken place in separate waves motivated mainly by economic reasons, but also as a result of the Kosovo War:
Turkey
Today's Albanians of Turkey were created from three large waves of emigration at different times. The first happened while all was a part of the Ottoman Empire in 1910 when 120,000 Albanians from the Vilayet of Kosovo were deported to what would become present-day Turkey. The second was between 1926 and 1938 though agreements by Yugoslavia and Turkey, here about 400,000 emigrated to Turkey. The last one was after World War II (1953-1966) when nearly 400,000 were expelled to Turkey.
Western Europe
Emigration elsewhere was initially as seasonal workers (1960, in Switzerland and Germany)
Another phase occurred with the dissolution of former Yugoslavia
The two small mountainous countries in Europe have a dense network of relationships ...Around250,000 people belong to the Kosovan diaspora in Switzerland ... And yet it is a large number ... .