North Macedonia
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Skopje
- Population
- 2,137,556 (2025 est.)
- Area
- 25,713 sq km
- Government
- parliamentary republic
- Religions
- Orthodox 46.1%, Islam 32.2%, Christian 13.2%, Other 7.2%; less than 1%: atheist, Catholic, other religions, not specified, Protestant (2021 est.)
- Ethnic Groups
- Macedonian 58.4%, Albanian 24.3%, Turkish 3.9%, Romani 2.5%, Serb 1.3%, other 2.3%, no ethnic affiliation data available 7.2% (2021 est.)
- Currency
- Macedonian denars (MKD)
- Life Expectancy
- 77.3 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .mk
- Climate
- warm, dry summers and autumns; relatively cold winters with heavy snowfall
- Terrain
- mountainous with deep basins and valleys; three large lakes, each divided by a frontier line; country bisected by the Vardar River
- Natural Resources
- low-grade iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, chromite, manganese, nickel, tungsten, gold, silver, asbestos, gypsum, timber, arable land
- Major Exports
- reaction and catalytic products, insulated wire, electricity, garments, seats (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
North Macedonia gained its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991 under the name of "Macedonia." Greece objected to the new country’s name, insisting it implied territorial pretensions to the northern Greek province of Macedonia, and democratic backsliding for several…