Behind every economic statistic about growth and investment stands one question no government wants to say out loud: who will work and who will live here in 20 years? Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski has now said it openly - in 15 to 25 years Macedonia could be short 250,000 people.

Demographics have become one of the country's most serious economic issues, the prime minister admits. Behind the figure of a quarter of a million people stands a familiar trio of causes: a falling birth rate, the emigration of the young, and a growing labour shortage that's already hitting companies across the country. This isn't a problem of the future - it's a problem already knocking at the door.

The number is frightening when you translate it into reality: 250,000 people is nearly half the population of Skopje. Empty villages, closed schools, factories looking for workers who aren't there, a pension system leaning on ever fewer shoulders. The Balkans have lived this for decades - the young leave for where they're valued, and at home only the statistics and the promises remain.

It's easy to admit the problem; it's harder to do something about it. The question Mickoski didn't answer is the most important one: what is the state concretely doing to make the young stay? Because while the answer to that question is "we're analysing," the planes and buses to Germany keep leaving full. Demographics don't wait for analyses - they're measured in the people who have already left.