Poor health care, environmental degradation and pollution, rural disadvantage and the lack of civil society are cross-regional issues in the Balkans. These combined with the economic and social effects of the transition, such as increasing unemployment and decreasing social provision, have resulted in specific groups, such as women, older people and children, being particularly disadvantaged. There is increasing evidence throughout the region that children from poor families and minorities are dropping out of school in order to work and contribute to family incomes. Economic hardship has resulted in more children being abandoned by parents to state-run homes, which do not provide an adequate education or preparation for life. Many of these children go on to become street children, become involved in crime or become sex workers.
Widespread unemployment means few job opportunities for school leavers.
Inappropriate education, not focused on the needs of the transition is producing young people who are unemployable in the new service industries. There are few social or sports facilities and drug abuse is a growing problem. Negative state and social attitudes towards people with mental disabilities are deeply established. The focus is on diagnosis not treatment and disability not ability. People with mental health problems are in the same institutions as those with mental handicaps.