Skopje, 30 September 2025 (MIA) - Creating a family, establishing families with many children is the highest patriotic act a people can do for their homeland, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Families with many children mean future. If we want to have a future, if we want to have a country, a rich country that will continue to develop after us, then family is the answer to this challenge, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said at an event “Demographic trends - Common action for investing and making use of human capital” through the Government’s five-year program with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

“According to the latest census we are a little over 1.8 million citizens. We have over 700.000 regular employees and around 350.000 pensioners. The real present population according to all estimates doesn’t surpass 1.5 million. Maybe in the next 10-15 years it will be a challenge, but we will not feel it all at the same speed. In 20 to 25 years the things we leave to the generations after us will be a serious challenge. Why? Because I fear then we will be a country with a population of less than a million and a ratio of one pensioner to one worker. This would mean a collapse to the pension fund, a collapse to the health fund,  Mickoski said.”

The Prime Minister said anyone who doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation doesn’t wish the country well.

“Let them call me conservative, backward, whatever they want to call me, but this must be the top priority of this Government and all future governments, and that is families with many children. Kindergartens are useless if there are no children, schools are useless if there are no children, highways and railways are pointless if there’s no one to drive or ride on them. That’s why I want to send a clear message to all Macedonian citizens: forming a family, and especially a large family, is the highest patriotic act a nation can do for its homeland, regardless of ethnic or religious affiliation. Families with many children mean future. If we want to have a future, if we want to have a country, a rich country that will continue to develop after us, then family is the answer to this challenge,” Mickoski said.

“This program,” Mickoski stressed, “is proof that we are not alone, that we have friends and partners around the world, and that it is our shared responsibility to protect our people, support the youth, preserve the family, and secure the future of Macedonia.”

The event also featured speeches by Florence Bauer, UNFPA Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia; Fatmir Limani, Minister of Social Policy, Demography and Youth; and Rita Columbia, the UN Resident Coordinator in North Macedonia.

Photo: Screenshot