Business
Mickoski: North Macedonia has two ways to sustain growth, more children or foreign workers
After Deputy Prime Minister Nikolloski said the country needs 50,000 foreign workers a year through 2030, the prime minister said the need could be even greater.
By ANN Newsroom · Newsroom
October 20, 2026, 18:34 · Updated 12:22 · 2 min read
In brief
- Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Nikolloski estimates that North Macedonia will need 50,000 foreign workers a year through 2030 to maintain its current level of GDP.
- Mickoski said the figures are underestimated and that the country may need many more economic migrants.
- About 15,500 babies were born in North Macedonia last year, almost 30% fewer than ten years earlier.
North Macedonia's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said the country faces two choices to keep its economic growth alive: either encourage births and large families, or import workers from abroad. The statement came in response to calculations by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Aleksandar Nikolloski.
Nikolloski had said that to maintain the current level of gross domestic product, the country will need about 50,000 foreign workers a year through 2030. According to Mickoski, that figure is underestimated and the need for economic migrants could be much greater.
“I will stick to family policies”
Mickoski recalled that a year and a half or two years ago he had been mocked for his statements on family values and the birth rate, but said the demographic challenge remains the same. He cited Western European countries, which he said issue hundreds of thousands of work permits to immigrants every year to maintain their economic level.
“No matter how much they want to mock me, I will stick to those family policies,” the prime minister said, presenting measures for large families as a way to secure the country's future, jobs for local workers and a more competitive economy.
Births in decline
Demographic data make the debate more urgent. About 15,500 babies were born in North Macedonia last year, almost 30% fewer than a decade earlier. An aging population and the emigration of young people have shrunk the labor market, while businesses have long complained of labor shortages in construction, textiles and services.
The debate comes as Mickoski's government has set a goal of reaching an average net wage of 1,000 euros by the end of its term, while the country's economy grew 4.3% in the second quarter of this year.
