Skopje Leads the Country in Births, While Eastern Macedonia Remains at the Lowest Percentage

With 41.6% of all babies born in North Macedonia, Skopje continues to carry the main share of births nationwide. On the other hand, according to figures from the State Statistics Office, Eastern Macedonia ranks with the lowest percentage, at just 6.1%.

Sociologist Lulzim Murtezani links this difference to the continued concentration of citizens in the capital, due to more favorable conditions for development. According to him, this leaves other cities with lower birth rates.

“In the capital, we have a tendency for the birth rate to be stable, on the rise. For example, in the capital, people are certainly concentrating and flowing in from many cities and rural areas because they will find more educational opportunities, employment opportunities, and we have greater population growth,” Murtezani said.

He also stressed that, in general, one of the main reasons for the decline in the number of births remains the poor economic situation. According to him, in this time of crisis, as he describes it, the cost of investing in children’s education is high. Alongside this, he also mentioned the tendency toward migration.

“Another factor is the change in the role of women in society. The modern woman insists on her independence, on her career, on participation in the labor market, and naturally these changes lead to the postponement of the marriage phase, the period of marriage, and also create many dilemmas over how many children a family will have,” Murtezani stated.

The data also show that the Skopje Region has the highest percentage of the total number of deaths, at 30.4%, while the Northeastern Region accounts for the lowest share, at 8.0%.

Urban areas record the highest level of both marriages, at 55.0%, and divorces, at 65.8%.

As for inter-village migration, the highest share is recorded in the Polog Region at 50.9%, compared with inter-city migration, which reaches 2.7%./TV21/