Elena Sumracka, 71, moves with the energy of a younger woman as she rushes to keep a pot of plum jam from boiling over. The plums are gathered from her garden, where she grows vegetables and keeps chickens and pigs. Her house is small, with crumbling walls and no indoor plumbing, but cozy. Photographs of her three grown children hang on the wall.
Elena is one of approximately 700 people remaining in Razlovci, a village in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s Delcevo municipality. The village population has declined by half since its heyday in the 1990s.
Elena‘s son and daughters have moved to the cities. Of her seven grandchildren, two have sought work abroad in the United States.
Out-migration has left the country with less than two million citizens. Remittances keep families afloat in a country where the average monthly salary is 352 euros, the lowest in former Yugoslavia and Albania.
The majority of those remaining in Razlovi are the elderly, who work as subsistence farmers and collect meager pensions. Young people don‘t see a future in the village.
Like most Balkan countries, fYR Macedonia suffers from widespread unemployment, especially for young people. According to UNDP’s latest Regional Human Development Report, more than half of the country’s young people are unemployed. This region has one of the highest youth unemployment rates globally.
When fYR Macedonia was part of the socialist Yugoslavia, Razlovci‘s approximately 1500 citizens prospered due to the mild climate, where they grew tobacco and fruit and raised livestock. A state-owned factory employed people making kilim, traditional Balkan flat-woven carpets.
But since the breakup of Yugoslavia, jobs are scarce. Many factories have closed, and new investors prefer to set up shop in urban areas. As is the case across the Balkans, villages are not thriving, and economic development is revitalizing urban areas at their expense.
Young people are feeling the economic pressures the hardest in Razlovci. Primary school enrollment is down from a high of 300 to less than 40. Last year, only four pupils graduated from the local primary school.
Teenagers see brighter options abroad. Many young adults already travel to Italy for seasonal work during the grape harvest.
Eighteen year-old Jovana Sitnovska plans to immigrate to Italy after she completes high school. Another teenager, Kristina Voinova, 14, says life in the village is boring. There are no jobs, entertainment options, or places to go out. She also plans to emigrate in a few years.
“For young people, this is not a life,” she explains.
There are few signs of Razlovci’s former glory as one of the first communities to rise up against the Ottomans in the late 19th century. Abandoned houses are falling into decay and a critical bridge on the only road that connects Razlovci to the outside world was badly damanged by floods in 2015. Villagers are justifiably worried, and a sign warns motorists that the bridge is unsafe for vehicles.
Razlovci’s residents worry about the state of their bridge. Repairs are under way, as part of a large-scale flood recovery project funded by the EU and implemented by UNDP. But other public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, hospitals and educational institutions, are in terrible condition.
Strengthening the infrastructure will help villages be better connected to markets and attractive to investments.
Four generations of Spasevskis share a tidy home on the main street. Stoyancho Spasevski, his wife Fatima, and their two young daughters live together with his parents and great-grandfather. Stoyancho, who studied at the police academy, recently secured a job working as a police inspector in Delcevo.
His wife, who comes from a nearby village, finds Razlovci more beautiful than her hometown. “Here I established my family and this is where I plan to stay,” she said.
“Full nest“ syndrome is common here, as residents rely on extended family networks to make ends meet and ensure care for the young and the elderly.
One bright spot in the crumbling village is Igma Tex, a clothing factory that employs about 60 women and 20 men. The owner of the factory, born in Razlovci, aims to create local jobs.
“Here in the village, they don’t have another alternative for work except tobacco and wood-cutting,” he explained.
It also makes good business sense. Since there are many skilled textile workers from Razlovci, there is no need for travel costs.
Despite the difficulties of life in Razlovci, Elena and her neighbors continue to maintain their gardens, raising animals and producing their own food in order to supplement their small pensions. Many city dwellers also keep a foothold in the villages, paying visits to their families on weekends and holidays. Often, when Elena’s children pay a visit, she happily gorges them with delicious home-produced food.
UNDP’s Regional Human Development Report on inequalities recognizes the high unemployment in the region and recommends that the way forward is to diversity economies, making it easier and cheaper to hire locally, and building skills (especially youth and women).