UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI

FAKLUTETA ZA DRUŽBENE VEDE

Nikola Paunovski
21200340
POL – ŠPID
Mentor: prof. dr. Tomaž Deželan

Why are young people from Macedonia inclined towards

emigration?

Seminarska naloga

Mladi in politika

Ljubljana, januar 2022

Contents:

1. Introduction ................................................................................................
3
2. Target Group ..............................................................................................3
3. Current State of
Affairs ..............................................................................4
4. Political Activity of The
Youth ..................................................................5
5. Corruption ..................................................................................................7
6. Job
scarcity ...............................................................................................10
7. Conclusion ...............................................................................................11
8. References ...............................................................................................13

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 1. Introduction
In the following seminar paper, we would try to get to the core as to why young people in
Macedonia are inclined towards emigrating from the country. Through the statistics and
information available to us from the official government sites for statistics and elections, as
well as through my survey and other important scientific papers published on the issue, we
will discover all the reasons why young Macedonians are so unwilling to try and make a
change in their country and would much rather move out of it. A common misconception is
that people from Macedonia, and south – eastern Europe in general, move out of their
respective countries solely due to economic reasons. Of course, in order for us to unveil all
the things that make the youth so inactive both politically and economically, we first need to
get to our target group. During our lessons, we agreed the people who are seen as youth are
those aged from 18 to 35. Therefore, I did a survey that gave us answers and statistics which
will help us to furthermore explain why the situation is as it is. The survey was completed by
121 people, from all over the country, aged 18 – 35, coming from all major ethnic groups in
the country.

2. Target group
As we can see from the information that the last census, which was carried out back in
2002, gives us, most of the population in Macedonia are working people. With young people
forming a majority of the population. (Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Macedonia –
Population, 2021)

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Naturally, we would think that if a certain age group holds the majority of the population,
those would be the people most likely to make a change. Yet, the same people that are
supposed to make the change are moving out of the country. From the information that has
been given to us by the Office for Labor and Social Affairs we can see a that the percentage
of unemployment across our target group is above 10%, even reaching 20% for people aged
25 – 29 years old. ( Revised employment and social policy program 2022, 2019) Taking all of
this into consideration the first reason to move out of the country would be, of course,
financial. And indeed, most of the people who moved out of the country in the first two
decades after independence were mostly, if not all of them, economic migrants. But
nevertheless, due to years of horrible politics, bad management not only of the educational
system, healthcare system, the state administration, law enforcement and basically every
branch of government subsidized institution, but also because of pure pressure from both
the major political parties, and the inability for any real change, young people are saying
that they are fed up. However, unlike in France or in the US, where people organize
themselves into massive protests, demanding their rights and overthrow governments,
young people from Macedonia see the only way to a better future by moving out.

3. Current state of affairs

Since its independence, Macedonia has had two major political parties for the
Macedonian electoral block, and another major one for the Albanian block. All other smaller
political parties have always failed to make any significant change since the political parties
mentioned above imbedded themselves not only into every branch of government subsidized

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institution, but also into people’s minds and identities. You are not a liberal if you are not
voting for SDSM, you are nationalist and traditionalist if you vote for VMRO, or you are
going against your own people if you are Albanian and you do not vote for DUI, are some of
the stereotypes that have shaped people’s opinions and choices. The country is in a constant
state of limbo, with every change of the government, the cronyism grows stronger and
stronger. Or in other words, if you are not a fan of the governing party, you pretty much have
0% chance of getting a state subsidized job. And since Macedonia can be defined as a social
– democracy, this includes education, healthcare and so on. So, basically, with every change
of government come new employments, but major layoffs as well. It is important to mention
that this is primarily a problem of the Macedonian electoral body, since the major Albanian
party has not been in opposition since its creation back in 2002. Also, compared to a mostly
individualistic western Europe, Macedonia still has a close – knitted society, with a herd
community mindset. This creates a problem for the state – subsidized jobs, since a lot of
times there is not any vivid form of organization. Or to put it into perspective, the worker,
whether that would be a doctor, a teacher, a social worker, a policemen et cetera, takes a
break whenever they want, takes the case of the person that they know, and not the person
next in line, or even shares information about subventions and scholarships only with the
people that they know. And because of globalization, and the worlds strive for the material, a
mindset full of inverted values has been created. The ultimate goal of the aforementioned
mindset, i.e., mentality is to show off not only how much money you have, but also how
above the law you can be. It has created young ‘brats’, and the only sentence they know in
life is ‘do you know who my father is’. This has led to the intelligent, smart, young people to
look for their future elsewhere, where a sanitary worker, and a director of a public institution
would be treated equally in front of the law regardless of their social status. Therefore, as a
young person in Macedonia, you realistically have two options, either join a political party,
and literally be their minion until they decide to give you a job or move out of your homeland
permanently and visit from time to time, only to visit your relatives who have not yet made it
out of the country. In the past ten years, Macedonia has had elections, whether local or
government, almost every year. Every election is of course, followed by huge political
campaigns funded by the state treasury, or in other words, taxpayers’ money. They are often
times aggressive, do not give you any relevant information and are mostly oriented against
the opposing party. (Hristov, D., 2021) They are everywhere, from huge billboards,
advertisement on busses, on the radio or television, even in malls. The situation that has been

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created has even led to teachers giving advice to their students, something in the lines of
‘Study hard, so you can easily move out of this country without a future’.
3.1. Political activity of the youth
Out of the 121 people that took the survey, 77,7% or 94 are still living in Macedonia,
while 22,3% or 27 are living abroad. It is a popular opinion that people, young people
included, often

vote only because a family members job depends on it. But, now when I look at it from a
different perspective, it is maybe the lack of cultural activities, and a place where a growing
amount of the youth can feel welcome and accepted, that the youth clubs of political parties
are so popular. Therefore, if you join a political party, you would not only be collecting votes
in order to secure your future, or in other words your future job. But, you will also get a
community of like – minded people, where you can feel safe to express yourself. Obviously,
this is used by the political parties as a way to shift away the focus from their 'amazing'
campaigns. They create what young people need the most, a sence of community for them as
well as a sense of affiliation. So, in a way, you can say that young people are not only
informed about the day-to-day political situation but are pretty much active themselves in the
political sphere. Of course, this is not completely true. With the constant idolization of the
respective parties’ leaders, and a constant state of hate towards people from the opposing
party, people in the country, but especially young people, have never been more divided.

As we can see from the information available to us, those youngsters that have stayed in the
country, are more likely to take an active role during elections. Taking consideration towards

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the reasons which were previously mentioned, we can see why those that stayed in the
country are often more active. The question of whether they used their voting right under
pressure from their family or society followed the one that we are currently discussing.
Although the private information from the survey will stay private, and even though I told
them to truthfully answer the survey, I believe that the pressure is so high, that they cannot
even answer a survey properly. I will abstain from posting the results of that question, since I
believe that many of the people did not answer the question truthfully, hence the results are
inaccurate. As per the government, or more so the political parties, they have done years of
tone – deaf campaigns, devastating projects not only for the urban landscapes of cities but for
the environment in general. Not, only that, but they have completely been inactive in helping
marginalized groups towards not only visibility, but incorporation in society. With Roma
people, and especially women from the Roma community experiencing discrimination
without a sign of stopping. Yet, of course, since the country is on its path towards a
membership in the EU, it has received a lot of pressure regarding its internal politics. In
recent years that has been the only way to make significant change in the country, but as the
true masterminds as they are, politicians from Macedonia have found a way around it. During
my research I came across a published book from the National Electoral Committee titled ‘A
Guide for Yung Voters’. Giving my past as a socio – politically active teenager from
Macedonia, with 6 years of Red Cross volunteering, 2 years as a volunteer and an educator
for the leading NGO for comprehensive sexual health in the country, HERA and 4 years with
the biggest organization of Eastern Macedonia for youth development ‘Youth on Board’
located in the socio – economic and political center of Eastern Macedonia, the city of Shtip, I
must say that I am truly surprised that I have never come across the book. It just shows that it
was another attempt to make things look good on paper, yet the reality is so much different
than it. All these statements can also be confirmed with a recent publication from ‘CIVIL’
non-governmental organization, which through their research came to a conclusion that
people imitate the way politicians are acting on television. The relationship between leading
political actors is reduced to hateful statements and constant skirmishes. Therefore, the
degree of political culture is at all times low, leaving young people not nearly interested in
the current state of affairs. This can also be confirmed with a question from the survey…
when asked whether they feel like sometimes political campaigns are being forced upon
them, a whooping 93,6% of the people that are still living in the country gave an affirmative
answer.

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 4. Corruption
According to the Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index,
Macedonia scored a 35/100, ranking the country on the 111 th place. In comparison to
results from 2012, the country has fallen 8 th places on the CPI scale, putting them in the
same branch with countries such as Mongolia, Panama or Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Corruption has been one of the greatest problems that the country is facing since its
independence, and because of it crucial services that are state – subsidized end up being
useless or available only to people in power. Naturally, in a state where the corruption is
at such a high level, people end up leaning towards illegal ways of making money. With
youth unemployment reaching as high as 20%, a study executed by the Global Initiative
Against Transnational Organized Crime estimated that around 5,9% of the cash flow in
the region compromising of Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia are subject to Illicit
Financial Flows. This exceeds the estimated average of global illicit outflows, which is
centered around 3-5%. Furthermore it is estimated that around 20% of Macedonia’s
economy is comprised in the grey economy. (Reitano, T. and Amerhauser, K., 2020)
Ultimately, we are faced with a corrupted government and government officials, which
tumbles down to the lowest layer of social and administration workers. Because of this a
saying has been created among the young people of the country that if a certain thing in
our country could not be done with money, it can be done with some more money. In a
corrupt society the cultural awareness of the people tumbles down, not only that but also
their soft skills, their bon – ton and their ability to implement change when truly needed.
It has created a situation in the country where everything is out for grabs, and the ones
who get it are the ones who made. One of the many problems with that notion has been
that usually the ones that get something from the state are the same ones that have strong
enough liaisons to actually get it. This has left ordinary people working for one of the

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 lowest, if not the lowest, wages across Europe, whilst missing the basic services that they
need in order for them to survive.

When asked to rate how satisfied are they with the state – services offered to them, as high as
73,4% of survey takers living in the country graded them below 3. This just confirms my
aforementioned statement. When we want to create youth that is driven towards change,
shape them into good, critical – thinking young adults, a large part of the equation is
education, whether that would be formal or informal. Since all of the survey takers are above
the age of 18, almost all of them have already finished their high – school education. This has
given them 13 years of experience with the educational system of the country. Since it's
independence, Macedonia has had a seemingly incredible educational system. Young people
from the country have always scored high on every international competition, especially in
the STEM subjects. Yet those are students that have had the opportunity to have special care,
either because of their families or because of attending private lessons. At the end, the
educational system is the same as every other government – subsidized institution, in other
words – tumbling. There is no clear border between the professional – private – political on
school grounds. Teachers often time favor the kids that come from afluent families, since
sometimes their jobs depend on the political party that the students family comes from. This
is done blantly, without teachers even hiding the fact that they are treating a certain student
more preferably than others. If we look at the following chart, we can basically confirm our
statement. The majority, or 95,7% of survey takers, when asked to grade their satisfaction
with the educational system of the country, gave it a 3 or a lower grade.

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Since we already conluded that corruption as well as other factors allow the sinkage of
cultural awarness, it comes to no surprise that the majority, or 87,2% of survey takers graded
the cultural awarness in the country with a 5 or lower.

5. Job scarcity
After the independence of the country, Macedonia was left with the challenge of not only
changing political system, but also diversifying its economy and growing it, nevertheless.
With the privatization of publicly owned businesses came the incredible challenges of a
crumbling economy. People who were on the front lines of privatization, were faced with a
unique opportunity to make money fast, after years of poor economic conditions. They
certainly used this chance to its maximum extent. Destroying large factories, stealing large
amounts of resources that would have been used in those factories and selling it for a profit
outside the borders of the country, as well as initiating massive layoffs across the country.
Those same people, who had the most to gain from the privatization of national companies
became the new ‘elite’ of the country. Hence why years of horrible economic measures and

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employment – oriented people, rather than business oriented, has led to the country having a
massive structural imbalance and a high presence of structural unemployment. This is of
course a direct result of the lack on regional mobility, the deindustrialization politics of the
early governments and of course, the lack of diversity in the economy overall. (Bardarova, S.,
Magdincheva – Shopova, M., Ristovska, A. and Durkalic, D., 2019) Taking all of this into
consideration, as well as the newly formed problem of jobs obtained through connections, it
is extremely hard to find a job in the country if you are not politically affiliated. This has
furthermore driven the youth towards emigration, draining the brains from the country. Of
course, this has not passed unnoticed by the Bulgarian government, whose politics have
always been inclined towards deleting all the Macedonian there is. Hence, they implemented
a law which allowed Macedonians to apply for a citizenship and an EU passport, only if they
submit a birth certificate of an ancestor that lived before the year of 1945, when Macedonia
officially became a Republic in the Federation of Yugoslavia. This led to a surplus in people
from the country practically buying the Bulgarian passport, so they can find work easily
across Europe. It is estimated that up to 100000 citizenships have been granted, which is a
large percentage of the 1,5 million people that proclaim themselves as Macedonians in the
country. Judging by the answers given by survey – takers we can confirm our aforementioned
statements.

With 51,1% of saying that there is no real opportunity for professional development in the
country. The result is likely to be slightly influenced by the recent investments in the IT
sector of the country, where a lot of young people are given the chance for professional
development outside of the borders of the country, whilst still living in the country. The
results from another question give a more deepened view into how hard it is to find a job,
with 90,4% of survey – takers grading the possibility to find a job in the country as 3 or
lower.

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 6. Conclusion
Given all the things that have impacted the day-to-day lives of the Macedonian youth,
from political pressure, crumbling administration, unfairness as well as poor socio –
economic policies, it comes to no surprise that they would be so inclined towards emigration.
The older generations tried to make a change, but impacted from the previous political
system that they lived in, which was not prone to change, their unwillingness got the best part
of them. This led to young people living in a society where those who are making the
decisions are the same ones that are unwilling to make any meaningful change. Therefore, at
the turn of the century, numbers of people moving out of the country sky – rocketed, and
especially later on after Bulgaria joined the EU. The process of moving out of the country has
been made easier than ever before. One of the main reasons why I chose this topic, is to try to
explain the position that young people are put in. A common misconception is that people
from this part of the globe move out in order to ‘steal’ peoples jobs and make easy money to
send back home. And realistically speaking, a lot of the early emigration waves happened
solely because of financial reasons, but the situation is changing. Now, young people want
respect before everything, respect in what they are doing and how hard they are working for
it. Given the circumstances, where a mentality of such toxic kind has been created, of course
they would not move for money. But they will use every possible chance to get out of the
country as fast as they can, since staying in it usually means a fast deterioration of ones
mental health. They are tired of having to live in a country, where not only is the system
crumbling, but also a country that has become a laughing – stock of Europe in the past
decade. Leading people to being ashamed to even admit where they come from, as it is
usually followed with numerous questions about their identity, language, or the country’s
relations with its neighbors. Nevertheless, if given the chance to move out of the country,
88,3% gave an affirmative answer to the question.

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When asked about what would be the reason for them to move out, other than carrier and
educational reasons, other reasons included dissapointment, discrimination or the mentality.
Yet, one of the most interesting answers, and symbolic if I may, was ‘To be able to run away
from moms and dads poltrons and a healthcare – educational zero from a country’. All in all
the majority of the reasons as to why emigration is so prominent in Macedonia have become
clearer. We have concluded that the economic reason has long been dead, and if it previously
dominated the mindset od emigrants, that is not the case today. With the ability to see with
just the swing of our fingers how young people are treated in other countries, as well as all
the opportunities that they can receive, no matter their ethnic or political background, has
definitely influenced the influx in emigration.

References:
1. Hristov, D. (August 2021). Младинска политичка (не)заинтересираност (Youth
political (dis)interest. Respublica.edu.mk. Accesible via:
https://respublica.edu.mk/mk/blog/mladinska-politicka-ne-zainteresiranost
2. Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Macedonia – Population.
(December 2021). State Statistical Office. Accessible via:
https://www.stat.gov.mk/Publikacii/SG2021/SG2021pdf/03-Naselenie-Population.pdf
3. Ревидирана Програма за Реформи во Вработувањето и Социјалната Политика
2022 (Revised employment and social policy program 2022). (December 2019).
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Accessible via:
https://www.mtsp.gov.mk/content/pdf/dokumenti/2020/ESRP(r)%202022%20(MKD)
%20full.pdf

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 4. Corruption Perceptions Index. (2020). Transparency International – the global
coalition against corruption. Accessible via:
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2020/index/mkd
5. Reitano, T. and Amerhauser, K. (August 2020). Illicit Financial Flows in Albania,
Kosovo and Macedonia – key drivers and current trends. Global Initiative Against
Transnational Organized Crime. Accessible via: https://globalinitiative.net/wp-
content/uploads/2020/08/Illicit-Financial-Flows-in-Albania-Kosovo-and-North-
Macedonia-Key-drivers-and-current-trends.pdf
6. Bardarova, S., Magdincheva – Shopova, M., Ristovska, A. and Durkalic, D.
(September 2019). Creation Jobs in The Real Sector: Case Study of The Republic of
Macedonia. KNOWLEDGE – International Journal. Accessible via:
http://eprints.ugd.edu.mk/22804/1/knowledge%20journal%20vol.34.1%20%202019-
%20CREATION%20JOBS%20IN%20THE%20REAL%20SECTOR-Macedonia.pdf
7. Paunovski, N. (January 2022). Survey. Accessible via:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1g3_TbVFgXL8LX85DGBHChH77AdZoWa7FCiQ
cIi1gboA/edit

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