Every day someone packs their bags and leaves the country. The figures of the latest report of the State Audit Office (SAO) show an alarming loss of talent. According to the Audit, 7861 people moved out of the country between 2013 and 2022. Of them, 719 were university graduates.
The numbers of Macedonians staying abroad are far more striking, according to the data of the international organizations listed in the report.
Macedonia is in the top 20 countries with the largest migration, according to the International Organization for Migration, IOM. Almost 40 percent of the higher education staff has left the country, according to the World Bank. On the Global Economy’s Brain Drain Index, the country ranks fifth out of 41 European countries.
“The conducted audit evidence allowed us to gain a reasonable assurance that the activities of the Government as the holder of migration management policies are not effective enough to reduce the outflow of higher education personnel from the state,” said the SAO.
