"text":"Macedonia gained its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece's objection to the new state's use of what it considered a Hellenic name and symbols delayed international recognition, which occurred under the provisional designation of \"the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.\" In 1995, Greece lifted a 20-month trade embargo and the two countries agreed to normalize relations, but the issue of the name remained unresolved and negotiations for a solution are ongoing. Since 2004, the US and over 130 other nations have recognized Macedonia by its constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia. Ethnic Albanian grievances over perceived political and economic inequities escalated into an insurgency in 2001 that eventually led to the internationally brokered Ohrid Framework Agreement, which ended the fighting and established guidelines for constitutional amendments and the creation of new laws that enhanced the rights of minorities. Although Macedonia became an EU candidate in 2005, the country still faces challenges, including fully implementing the Framework Agreement, resolving the outstanding name dispute with Greece, improving relations with Bulgaria, halting democratic backsliding, bolstering independence of the judiciary and media freedom, and stimulating economic growth and development. Macedonia's membership in NATO was blocked by Greece at the Alliance's Summit of Bucharest in 2008."
"text":"8 September 1991 (referendum by registered voters endorsed independence from Yugoslavia)"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"Independence Day, 8 September (1991); also known as National Day"
},
"Constitution":{
"text":"several previous; latest adopted 17 November 1991, effective 20 November 1991; amended several times, last in 2011 (2011)"
},
"Legal system":{
"text":"civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction"
},
"Suffrage":{
"text":"18 years of age; universal"
},
"Executive branch":{
"chief of state":{
"text":"President Gjorge IVANOV (since 12 May 2009)"
},
"head of government":{
"text":"Prime Minister Nikola GRUEVSKI (since 26 August 2006)"
},
"cabinet":{
"text":"Council of Ministers elected by the Assembly by simple majority vote; note - current cabinet formed by the government coalition parties VMRO-DPMNE, DUI, and several small parties"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 13 and 27 April 2014 (next to be held in 2019); following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually elected prime minister by the Assembly"
},
"election results":{
"text":"Gjorge IVANOV reelected president in second round; percent of vote - Gjorge IVANOV (independent) 55.3%, Stevo PENDAROVSKI (SDSM) 41.1%"
}
},
"Legislative branch":{
"description":{
"text":"unicameral Assembly or Sobranie (123 seats; 120 members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 3 directly elected in diaspora constituencies worldwide by simple majority vote; members serve 4-year terms)"
},
"elections":{
"text":"last held on 27 April 2014 (next to be held on 24 April 2016); note - election has been moved up because of political unrest"
},
"election results":{
"text":"percent of vote by party - VMRO-DPMNE 43.0%, SDSM 25.3%, DUI 13.7%, DPA 5.9%, GROM 2.8%, NDR 1.6%, other 4.3%, invalid 3.4%; seats by party - VMRO-DPMNE 61, SDSM 34, DUI 19, DPA 7, GROM 1, NDR 1"
}
},
"Judicial branch":{
"highest court(s)":{
"text":"Supreme Court (consist of NA judges); Constitutional Court (consists of 9 judges)"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"Supreme Court judges nominated by the Judicial Council, a 7-member body of legal professionals, and appointed by the Assembly; judge tenure NA; Constitutional Court judges appointed by the legislature for nonrenewable, 9-year terms"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"Courts of Appeal; Basic Courts"
}
},
"Political parties and leaders":{
"text":"Citizens Option for Macedonia or GROM [Stevco JAKIMOVSKI] ++ Democratic Party of Albanians or DPA [Menduh THACI] ++ Democratic Union for Integration or DUI [Ali AHMETI] ++ Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity or VMRO-DPMNE [Nikola GRUEVSKI] ++ National Democratic Revival or NDR [Vesel MEMEDI] ++ Social Democratic Union of Macedonia or SDSM [Zoran ZAEV]",
"note":{
"text":"during the 2014 parliamentary elections VMRO-DPMNE, SDSM, and GROM each led coalitions"
}
},
"Political pressure groups and leaders":{
"text":"Federation of Free Trade Unions [Mirjana ANDREVSKA] ++ Federation of Trade Unions [Zivko MITREVSKI] ++ Trade Union of Education, Science and Culture or SONK [Jakim NEDELKOV] ++ Student Plenum ++ Eco Guerilla [Arianit XHAFERI]"
"text":"Ambassador Vasko NAUMOVSKI (since 18 November 2014)"
},
"chancery":{
"text":"2129 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[1] (202) 667-0501"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[1] (202) 667-2131"
},
"consulate(s) general":{
"text":"Chicago, Detroit, New York"
}
},
"Diplomatic representation from the US":{
"chief of mission":{
"text":"Ambassador Jess L. BAILY (since 12 February 2015)"
},
"embassy":{
"text":"Str. Samolilova, Nr. 21, 1000 Skopje"
},
"mailing address":{
"text":"American Embassy Skopje, US Department of State, 7120 Skopje Place, Washington, DC 20521-7120 (pouch)"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[389] (2) 310-2000"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[389] (2) 310-2499"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"text":"a yellow sun (the Sun of Liberty) with eight broadening rays extending to the edges of the red field; the red and yellow colors have long been associated with Macedonia"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"eight-rayed sun; national colors: red, yellow"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Denes nad Makedonija\" (Today Over Macedonia)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"Vlado MALESKI/Todor SKALOVSKI"
},
"note":{
"text":"adopted 1991; written in 1943, the song previously served as the anthem of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia while part of Yugoslavia"
}
}
},
"Economy":{
"Economy - overview":{
"text":"Since its independence in 1991, Macedonia has made progress in liberalizing its economy and improving its business environment, but has lagged the Balkan region in attracting foreign investment. Corruption and weak rule of law remain significant problems. Some businesses complain of opaque regulations and unequal enforcement of the law. Unemployment has remained consistently high at more than 30% since 2008, but may be overstated based on the existence of an extensive gray market, estimated to be between 20% and 45% of GDP, which is not captured by official statistics. Macedonia’s economy is closely linked to Europe as a customer for exports and source of investment, and has suffered as a result of prolonged weakness in the euro zone. Macedonia maintained macroeconomic stability through the global financial crisis by conducting prudent monetary policy, which keeps the domestic currency pegged against the euro, and by limiting fiscal deficits. The government has been loosening fiscal policy, however, and the budget deficit was 4.2% of GDP in both 2013 and 2014. Public debt at the end of 2014 was 45.8%, which although low by regional comparison, is significant for a small economy."
"Household income or consumption by percentage share":{
"lowest 10%":{
"text":"2.2%"
},
"highest 10%":{
"text":"34.5% (2009 est.)"
}
},
"Distribution of family income - Gini index":{
"text":"43.6 (2013) ++ 39.2 (2011)"
},
"Budget":{
"revenues":{
"text":"$2.89 billion"
},
"expenditures":{
"text":"$3.328 billion (2014 est.)"
}
},
"Taxes and other revenues":{
"text":"26.5% of GDP (2014 est.)"
},
"Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)":{
"text":"-4% of GDP (2014 est.)"
},
"Public debt":{
"text":"45.8% of GDP (2014 est.) ++ 40.5% of GDP (2013 est.)",
"note":{
"text":"official data from Ministry of Finance; data cover central government debt; this data excludes debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; includes treasury debt held by foreign entitites; excludes debt issued by sub-national entities, as well as intra-governmental debt; there are no debt instruments sold for social funds"
}
},
"Fiscal year":{
"text":"calendar year"
},
"Inflation rate (consumer prices)":{
"text":"-0.1% (2014 est.) ++ 2.8% (2013 est.)"
},
"Central bank discount rate":{
"text":"3.25% (31 December 2014) ++ 3.25% (31 December 2013)",
"note":{
"text":"series discontinued in January 2010; the discount rate has been replaced by a referent rate for calculating the penalty rate"
}
},
"Commercial bank prime lending rate":{
"text":"5.2% (31 December 2014 est.) ++ 5.4% (31 December 2013 est.)"
},
"Stock of narrow money":{
"text":"$1.692 billion (31 December 2014 est.) ++ $1.569 billion (31 December 2013 est.)"
},
"Stock of broad money":{
"text":"$6.129 billion (31 December 2014 est.) ++ $6.282 billion (31 December 2013 est.)"
},
"Stock of domestic credit":{
"text":"$5.055 billion (31 December 2014 est.) ++ $5.208 billion (31 December 2013 est.)"
},
"Market value of publicly traded shares":{
"text":"$2.084 billion (31 December 2014) ++ $2.302 billion (31 December 2013) ++ $2.423 billion (31 December 2012)"
},
"Current account balance":{
"text":"-$151 million (2014 est.) ++ -$194.1 million (2013 est.)"
"Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy":{
"text":"8.084 million Mt (2012 est.)"
}
},
"Communications":{
"Telephones - fixed lines":{
"total subscriptions":{
"text":"390,000"
},
"subscriptions per 100 inhabitants":{
"text":"19 (2014 est.)"
}
},
"Telephones - mobile cellular":{
"total":{
"text":"2.3 million"
},
"subscriptions per 100 inhabitants":{
"text":"110 (2014 est.)"
}
},
"Telephone system":{
"general assessment":{
"text":"competition from the mobile-cellular segment of the telecommunications market has led to a drop in fixed-line telephone subscriptions"
},
"domestic":{
"text":"combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular telephone subscribership about 130 per 100 persons"
},
"international":{
"text":"country code - 389 (2012)"
}
},
"Broadcast media":{
"text":"public TV broadcaster operates 3 national channels and a satellite network; 5 privately owned TV channels broadcast nationally using terrestrial transmitters and about 15 broadcast on national level via satellite; roughly 75 local commercial TV stations; large number of cable operators offering domestic and international programming; public radio broadcaster operates over multiple stations; 3 privately owned radio stations broadcast nationally; about 70 local commercial radio stations (2012)"
},
"Radio broadcast stations":{
"text":"AM 1, FM 68, shortwave 0 (2009)"
},
"Television broadcast stations":{
"text":"76 (2009)"
},
"Internet country code":{
"text":".mk"
},
"Internet users":{
"text":"1.1 million ++ 51.1% (2009)"
}
},
"Transportation":{
"Airports":{
"text":"10 (2013)"
},
"Airports - with paved runways":{
"total":{
"text":"8"
},
"2,438 to 3,047 m":{
"text":"2"
},
"under 914 m":{
"text":"6 (2013)"
}
},
"Airports - with unpaved runways":{
"total":{
"text":"2"
},
"914 to 1,523 m":{
"text":"1"
},
"under 914 m":{
"text":" ++ 1 (2013)"
}
},
"Pipelines":{
"text":"gas 268 km; oil 120 km (2013)"
},
"Railways":{
"total":{
"text":"699 km"
},
"standard gauge":{
"text":"699 km 1.435-m gauge (223 km electrified) (2014)"
}
},
"Roadways":{
"total":{
"text":"14,182 km (includes 242 km of expressways)"
},
"paved":{
"text":"9,633 km"
},
"unpaved":{
"text":"4,549 km (2014)"
}
}
},
"Military":{
"Military branches":{
"text":"Army of the Republic of Macedonia (ARM; includes General Staff and subordinate Joint Operational Command, Training and Doctrine Command, Special Operations Regiment) (2012)"
},
"Military service age and obligation":{
"text":"18 years of age for voluntary military service; conscription abolished in 2008 (2013)"
},
"Manpower available for military service":{
"males age 16-49":{
"text":"532,196"
},
"females age 16-49":{
"text":"511,964 (2010 est.)"
}
},
"Manpower fit for military service":{
"males age 16-49":{
"text":"443,843"
},
"females age 16-49":{
"text":"426,251 (2010 est.)"
}
},
"Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually":{
"male":{
"text":"16,144"
},
"female":{
"text":"14,920 (2010 est.)"
}
},
"Military expenditures":{
"text":"1.08% of GDP (2015) ++ 1.17% of GDP (2014) ++ 1.14% of GDP (2013) ++ 1.2% of GDP (2012) ++ 1.3% of GDP (2011)"
}
},
"Transnational Issues":{
"Disputes - international":{
"text":"Kosovo and Macedonia completed demarcation of their boundary in September 2008; Greece continues to reject the use of the name Macedonia or Republic of Macedonia"
},
"Refugees and internally displaced persons":{
"stateless persons":{
"text":"741 (2014)"
}
},
"Illicit drugs":{
"text":"major transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and hashish; minor transit point for South American cocaine destined for Europe; although not a financial center and most criminal activity is thought to be domestic, money laundering is a problem due to a mostly cash-based economy and weak enforcement"