Merely 6,6% of the citizens in FYRMacedonia have traveled to EU countries following 19 December 2009, when the visa liberalisation was lifted. 93,4% haven't travelled at all.

These are the results from a poll which was conducted in February by the Center for Research and Policy Making from Skopje amongst 1.100 respondents. Its goal is to determine how many citizens have used the opportunity to travel without visas in this short period.

The poll suggests that 30,1% of the respondents who haven't traveled said it was due to lack of finances and 27,8% because they haven't obtained a biometric passport. Out of those who have managed to get biometric passport, 18,9% used it to travel to an EU country.

Prior and after the visa liberalisation, Greece and Bulgaria are the most visited destinations according to the poll.

In relation to ethnic affiliation, before 19 December 2010 more ethnic Macedonians traveled abroad (42,2%), while the number of ethnic Albanians going abroad increased after the abolition of the visa liberalisation.

Those respondents who travelled before the visa liberalisation were aged between 46 and 65 (35,4%), while after the visa liberalisation most travelers are aged between 26 and 35 (31,5%), says a poll conducted by the Center for Research and Policy Making.