Skopje, 8 September 2025 (MIA) - We must make a decision today not to allow our homeland to fade out quietly, but to restore hope, joy, and a child’s smile in every home, with all our strength. But at the same time, we must also instill hope. The Government sees this issue as a question of the nation’s future and that’s why it sets it as one of the highest national priorities, stressed Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski in his address Monday at an event marking the 34th anniversary of the country’s independence.

“We are committed to building a system that will encourage the young generations to stay here, to create families and to believe in their future at home. This means constant work on policies that boost trust in the state, that offer stability and a feeling of security, that create a perspective for every young person that it is possible to have a dignified life here. Our vision is for Macedonia to become a country in which a child’s smile will be the greatest value, a country in which parents will know that their labor and love are valued, a country in which the future isn’t seen in emigration, but in creation,” the Prime Minister said.

That’s why, according to the Prime Minister, the Government remains committed to investing in people, in families, “in every new child that will be born”.

“That is the essence of our mission – to ensure that Macedonia will exist tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and for generations to come,” Mickoski underscored.

Mickoski said everything is in vain if there are increasingly fewer people living in the country.

“I cannot remain calm when it is well-known and clear that there is increasingly less of Macedonia. We can talk about roads, interchanges, taxes, wages, and pensions. But it is all in vain if we have increasingly fewer people. If the birthrate is declining. It is in vain for us to build roads if there is no one to drive on them, or build schools if the classrooms are empty or playgrounds if there are no children playing in them. All our struggles and worries are in vain if our population halves in 70–100 years. We are not a numerous people, and the issue of birthrate is a question of our survival as a people and a country,” the Prime Minister added.

Mickoski noted that in 2015, in Bitola, 960 children enrolled in first grade, while ten years later that figure stands at only 651.

“In one decade, we lost more than 300 pupils – an entire generation that isn’t there. In Tetovo, where there is a significant migration from the villages to the city, we had 1,076 first-graders in 2022, this year there are only 940. In Ohrid, in 2022 there were 560, while in 2025 there are barely 440 children. That means that every class is fading in front of our eyes. The most dramatic example is in Radovish: in 2022 there were 208 first-graders, this year only 139. Almost 70 children less in three years. These figures aren’t just statistics. They tell stories about closed classrooms, empty playgrounds, small towns and villages that are slowly emptying. We must tell ourselves the truth today: there is increasingly less Macedonia,” the Prime Minister said.

MIA file photo