Europe — Flow Monitoring Surveys with Migrants Transiting through the Republic of North Macedonia, Round 01 (Feb-Mar 2022)

This report is based on the Flow Monitoring Survey carried out by IOM field staff in North Macedonia in February and March 2022. A total of 209 interviews were collected in two locations – Temporary Transit Centre (TTC) Vinojug (Gevgelija) and TTC Tabanovce (Kumanovo). Survey data provide an insight of the profile and other relevant aspects related to the irregular migrants. They show following:

• By country of citizenship about 81 per cent of the respondents were from five countries – Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Syrian Arab Republic and Morocco. Almost the same is the structure of respondents by country of origin or habitual residence. Only seven respondents were internally displaced persons.
• Most of the respondents were male (203 migrants) and young persons (average age 27.3 years). Out of the top 5 nationalities surveyed, the youngest were respondents from Morocco and oldest were those from India (23.9 and 29.1 years of average age, respectively).
• The vast majority (88.5%) of respondents was single at the moment of the interview, and 10.5 per cent of them had children. About 29.1 per cent of the respondents have primary level of education, 67.6 per cent secondary and only 3.3 per cent had tertiary level of education. More than half of respondents were unemployed and inactive at the time of departure from countries of origin, whereas about 26 per cent were employed or self-employed. Hereof, economic reasons (57.4%), followed by war or conflict (26.3%), were the initial first main reasons for leaving their countries of origin.
• Majority of the respondents (84.2%) in North Macedonia arrived from six countries where they spent at least one year (Greece, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Syrian Arab Republic and Morocco). More than one third (35.9%) of respondents were travelling alone, while 64.1 per cent travelled with a group.
• Great part of the respondents (47.9%) has left the departure country more than 1 year ago (36.4% of them, more than 3 years ago). Ninety respondents (43.1%) have left the departure country in the last year, (23.0% of them, less than 2 weeks ago). Survey data show the route of the respondents, confirm a relatively long stay in transit countries and work as the main reason for it, then that most of them had private accommodation and that walking on foot was the main mode of transport. Most of the respondents (91.4%) reported they have stayed in North Macedonia for less than two weeks.
• The journey of the respondents was quite costly. Overall amount paid individually since the beginning of the journey, for 77 per cent of the respondents, was between 1,000 and 5,000 USD. Two thirds (66.5%) of the respondents reported having paid for the journey with their own money only.
• Germany remains to be the country of intended destination for the greatest part of the respondents its share is higher at the time of departure (40.2%) than as a final destination country at the time of interview (33.5%). Similar are changes related to other final destination countries. For 47 per cent of the respondents, the main reasons for choosing final destination country are related to appealing socio-economic conditions and for 26 per cent of them it is the ease of access to asylum procedures.
• Related to human trafficking / other exploitative practices respondents were asked six questions. On each of them 90 per cent of the respondents answered that they were not faced with such experience.
• Related to COVID-19, 207 respondents were aware of the pandemic. Most of them (85%) received information from media, followed by local / national authorities (62%), family / friends (58.4%), civil society / NGOs (56.5%), medical staff (28%) and UN or other international organizations (7.2%).
• Almost all of the respondents (207) did not consider the option of returning during their journey.