Deputy Prime Minister Ljupco Nikolovski wrote a self-congratulatory comment about the reduced emigration levels in 2020, and credited the Government – not the global pandemic – for it.

A poll showed that only 7 percent of citizens have a member of their household who emigrated in 2020. This compared to 16 percent in 2019.

Nothing compares to the feeling when you see how you are making your country a better place to live in. We will continue to work to reduce the number of packed suitcases leaving our country, the number of abandoned homes and of extinguished lights, Nikolovski said in his poetic comment.

In reality, 2020 was an impossible year to emigrate in, with the European Union countries, who are the main destination countries for Macedonian emigrants, completely closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. There was even a reverse flow reported – of Macedonians who lost their jobs in the EU and other parts of the Western world returning home to button down during the pandemic. This was obviously not caused by the policies of the Zaev regime, but by a unique global event, and the fact that the number of households who had a member emigrate still reached 7 percent is testiment to the strong drive to leave the country, even under impossible circumstances.