"text":"<p>North Macedonia gained its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991 under the name of \"Macedonia.\" Greek objection to the new country’s name, insisting it implied territorial pretensions to the northern Greek province of Macedonia, and democratic backsliding for several years stalled the country’s movement toward Euro-Atlantic integration. Immediately after Macedonia declared independence, Greece sought to block Macedonian efforts to gain UN membership if the name \"Macedonia\" was used. The country was eventually admitted to the UN in 1993 as \"The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,\" and at the same time it agreed to UN-sponsored negotiations on the name dispute. 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 continued. Over time, the US and over 130 other nations recognized Macedonia by its constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia. Ethnic Albanian grievances over perceived political and economic inequities escalated into a conflict 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. In January 2018, the government adopted a new law on languages, which elevated the Albanian language to an official language at the national level, with the Macedonian language remaining the sole official language in international relations. Relations between ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians remain complicated, however.</p> <p>North Macedonia's pro-Western government has used its time in office since 2017 to sign a historic deal with Greece in June 2018 to end the name dispute and revive Skopje's NATO and EU membership prospects. This followed a nearly three-year political crisis that engulfed the country but ended in June 2017 following a six-month-long government formation period after a closely contested election in December 2016. The crisis began after the 2014 legislative and presidential election, and escalated in 2015 when the opposition party began releasing wiretapped material that revealed alleged widespread government corruption and abuse. Although an EU candidate since 2005, North Macedonia has yet to open EU accession negotiations. The country still faces challenges, including fully implementing reforms to overcome years of democratic backsliding and stimulating economic growth and development. In June 2018, Macedonia and Greece signed the Prespa Accord whereby the Republic of Macedonia agreed to change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia. Following ratification by both countries, the agreement went in to force on 12 February 2019. North Macedonia signed an accession protocol to become a NATO member state in February 2019.</p>"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> North Macedonia has not conducted a census since 2002; Romani populations are usually underestimated in official statistics and may represent 6.5–13% of North Macedonia’s population"
"text":"Macedonian (official) 66.5%, Albanian (official) 25.1%, Turkish 3.5%, Romani 1.9%, Serbian 1.2%, other (includes Aromanian (Vlach) and Bosnian) 1.8% (2002 est.); note - minority languages are co-official with Macedonian in municipalities where they are spoken by at least 20% of the population; Albanian is co-official in Tetovo, Brvenica, Vrapciste, and other municipalities; Turkish is co-official in Centar Zupa and Plasnica; Romani is co-official in Suto Orizari; Aromanian is co-official in Krusevo; Serbian is co-official in Cucer Sandevo"
"text":"<br>Книга на Светски Факти, неопходен извор на основни информации. (Macedonian)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
"text":"air pollution from metallurgical plants; Skopje has severe air pollution problems every winter as a result of industrial emissions, smoke from wood-buring stoves, and exhaust fumes from old cars"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Air pollutants":{
"particulate matter emissions":{
"text":"28.34 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)"
},
"carbon dioxide emissions":{
"text":"7.05 megatons (2016 est.)"
},
"methane emissions":{
"text":"2.28 megatons (2020 est.)"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"warm, dry summers and autumns; relatively cold winters with heavy snowfall"
"text":"Skopje derives from its ancient name Scupi, the Latin designation of a classical era Greco-Roman frontier fortress town; the name may go back even further to a pre-Greek, Illyrian name"
"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":{
"history":{
"text":"several previous; latest adopted 17 November 1991, effective 20 November 1991"
},
"amendments":{
"text":"proposed by the president of the republic, by the government, by at least 30 members of the Assembly, or by petition of at least 150,000 citizens; final approval requires a two-thirds majority vote by the Assembly; amended several times, last in 2019"
}
},
"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"
},
"Citizenship":{
"citizenship by birth":{
"text":"no"
},
"citizenship by descent only":{
"text":"at least one parent must be a citizen of North Macedonia"
},
"dual citizenship recognized":{
"text":"no"
},
"residency requirement for naturalization":{
"text":"8 years"
}
},
"Suffrage":{
"text":"18 years of age; universal"
},
"Executive branch":{
"chief of state":{
"text":"President Stevo PENDAROVSKI (since 12 May 2019)"
"text":"Council of Ministers elected by the Assembly by simple majority vote"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"president directly elected using a modified 2-round system; a candidate can only be elected in the first round with an absolute majority from all registered voters; in the second round, voter turnout must be at least 40% for the result to be deemed valid; president elected for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 21 April and 5 May 2019 (next to be held in 2024); following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition is usually elected prime minister by the Assembly; Zoran ZAEV reelected prime minister by the Assembly on 31 August 2020; Assembly vote - 62 for, 51 against"
},
"election results":{
"text":"Stevo PENDAROVSKI elected president in second round; percent of vote in first round - Stevo PENDAROVSKI (SDSM) 44.8%, Gordana SILJANOVSKA-DAVKOVA (VMRO-DPMNE) 44.2%, Blenim REKA (independent) 11.1%; percent of vote in second round - Stevo PENDAROVSKI 53.6%, Gordana SILJANOVSKA-DAVKOVA 46.4%"
"text":"unicameral Assembly - Sobraine in Macedonian, Kuvend in Albanian (between 120 and 140 seats, currently 120; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by closed-list proportional representation vote; possibility of 3 directly elected in diaspora constituencies by simple majority vote provided there is sufficient voter turnout; members serve 4-year terms)"
},
"elections":{
"text":"last election was to be held on 12 April 2020 but was postponed until 15 July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (next to be held in 2024)"
},
"election results":{
"text":"percent of vote by party/coalition - We Can 35.9%, Renewal 34.6%, BDI 11.5%, AfA-Alternative 9%, The Left 4.1%, PDSh 1.5%, other 3.4%; seats by party/coalition - We Can 46, Renewal 44, BDI 15, AfA-Alternative 12, The Left 2, PDSh 1"
"text":"Supreme Court (consists of 22 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 Assembly for nonrenewable, 9-year terms"
"text":"Alliance for Albanians or AfA [Ziadin SELA]<br>Alternative (Alternativa) [Afrim GASHI]<br>Besa Movement [Bilal KASAMI]<br>Democratic Party of Albanians or PDSh [Menduh THACI]<br>Democratic Union for Integration or BDI [Ali AHMETI]<br>Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity or VMRO-DPMNE [Hristijan MICKOSKI]<br>Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - People's Party or VMRO-NP [Ljubco GEORGIEVSKI]<br>Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Goran MILEVSKI]<br>Renewal (VMRO-DPMNE coalition)<br>Social Democratic Union of Macedonia or SDSM [Dimitar KOVACHEVSKI]<br>The Left (Levica) [Dimitar APASIEV]<br>Turkish Democratic Party of DPT [Beycan ILYAS]<br>We Can (coalition includes SDSM/Besa/VMRO-NP, DPT, LDP)"
"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)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> written in 1943 and adopted in 1991, the song previously served as the anthem of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia while part of Yugoslavia"
"text":"<p>Since its independence in 1991, Macedonia has made progress in liberalizing its economy and improving its business environment. Its low tax rates and free economic zones have helped to attract foreign investment, which is still low relative to the rest of Europe. Corruption and weak rule of law remain significant problems. Some businesses complain of opaque regulations and unequal enforcement of the law.</p> <p></p> <p>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. Unemployment has remained consistently high at about 23% 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.</p> <p></p> <p>Macedonia is working to build a country-wide natural gas pipeline and distribution network. Currently, Macedonia receives its small natural gas supplies from Russia via Bulgaria. In 2016, Macedonia signed a memorandum of understanding with Greece to build an interconnector that could connect to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline that will traverse the region once complete, or to an LNG import terminal in Greece.</p> <p></p> <p>Macedonia maintained macroeconomic stability through the global financial crisis by conducting prudent monetary policy, which keeps the domestic currency pegged to the euro, and inflation at a low level. However, in the last two years, the internal political crisis has hampered economic performance, with GDP growth slowing in 2016 and 2017, and both domestic private and public investments declining. Fiscal policies were lax, with unproductive public expenditures, including subsidies and pension increases, and rising guarantees for the debt of state owned enterprises, and fiscal targets were consistently missed. In 2017, public debt stabilized at about 47% of GDP, still relatively low compared to its Western Balkan neighbors and the rest of Europe.</p>"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> 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; there are no debt instruments sold for social funds"
"text":"EU pre-accession process has led to stronger tele-density with a closer regulatory framework and independent regulators; administrative ties with the EU have led to progress; broadband services are widely available; more customers moving to fiber networks; operators investing in LTE; importer of broadcasting equipment from Vietnam and China; MOU for 5G with US (2020)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments"
"text":"public service TV broadcaster Macedonian Radio and Television operates 3 national terrestrial TV channels and 2 satellite TV channels; additionally, there are 10 regional TV stations that broadcast nationally using terrestrial transmitters, 54 TV channels with concession for cable TV, 9 regional TV stations with concessions for cable TV; 4 satellite TV channels broadcasting on a national level, 21 local commercial TV channels, and a large number of cable operators that offer domestic and international programming; the public radio broadcaster operates over 3 stations; there are 4 privately owned radio stations that broadcast nationally; 17 regional radio stations, and 49 local commercial radio stations (2019)"
"text":"Army of the Republic of North Macedonia (ARSM; includes a General Staff and subordinate Operations Command, Logistic Support Command, Training and Doctrine Command, Center for Electronic Reconnaissance, Aviation Brigade, and Honor Guard Battalion) (2021)",
"text":"the inventory of North Macedonia's Army consists mostly of Soviet-era equipment; since 2010, it has received small amounts of equipment from Ireland and Turkey (2021)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T"
"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"
