A 61-year-old woman has become the oldest mother in North Macedonia after giving birth to a baby boy named Petar, health officials announced on Tuesday.
The birth was achieved through in vitro fertilisation at the University Clinic of Gynaecology and Obstetrics in Skopje.
Clinic director Irena Aleksioska Papestiev hailed the achievement as a milestone in medical science. "The birth of baby Petar by a 61-year-old patient shows that there are no more limits in the world of medicine," she said during a press conference.
Doctors carefully monitored the patient, who had underlying conditions including hypertension and diabetes. Despite the challenges, both mother and child were discharged in good health on Tuesday.
The mother, who underwent 10 separate in vitro treatments over the years, benefited from North Macedonia’s lack of age restrictions for such procedures. Her husband, aged 65, expressed joy over their new arrival.
This extraordinary event comes amid a demographic challenge for the Balkan nation. North Macedonia, with a fertility rate of just 1.48 births per woman in 2023, has been grappling with population decline. Emigration and economic stagnation have reduced its population to 1.8 million, a nearly 10% drop since 2001, according to the latest census data.
The birth serves as a symbol of hope in a country confronting significant demographic shifts.
