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North Macedonia is a country in the south east corner of Europe. Until February 2019 it was known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). This was because of a dispute with its neighbour, Greece, which has a region known as Macedonia. On September 30th 2018 the FYROM held a referendum to change its name to North Macedonia and end the dispute. Unfortunately not enough people voted to make the "yes" vote valid. On October 18th 2018 the Macedonian Parliament voted to go ahead with the name change.

North Macedonia is a landlocked country which means it has no borders with a coast.

The land is mountainous with deep valleys and three very large lakes. The River Vardar runs right across the country from north to south.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of North Macedonia, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 41 50N
Longitude - 22 00E

The capital of North Macedonia is Skopje.

North Macedonia is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in North Macedonia is the denar. North Macedonia is not a member of the European Union but has made a formal application to join. It has been granted candidate status which means the EU will now consider its application over the next few years. However in 2014, the EU stated it had no plans to expand in the next five years.

Macedonian and Albanian are the major languages.

Check the weather in Skopje now.

This is the time in Skopje now

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The North Macedonian flag is a yellow sun (the sun of liberty) with eight rays, getting wider and spreading to the edges of a red background.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the North Macedonian National Anthem called Today over Macedonia (possibly now North Macedonia). It was written in 1943 and adopted in 1991. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

Today over Macedonia
A new sun of freedom rises,
Macedonians fight
For their rights.
Macedonians fight
For their rights.

Now once again flies
The flag of the Krusevo Republic,
Goce Delcev, Pitu Guli,
Dame Gruev, Sandanski.
Goce Delcev, Pitu Guli,
Dame Gruev, Sandanski.

The Macedonian woodlands sing brightly
New songs, new awakenings.
Free Macedonia
Lives free.
Free Macedonia
Lives free.

The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of North Macedonia is 25,433 sq kms which is the 34th largest in Europe.

North Macedonia has lakes, rivers and canals which total 280 sq kms.

North Macedonia has boundaries with 5 countries

• Greece 234 kms
• Albania 181 kms
• Bulgaria 162 kms
• Kosovo 160 kms
• Serbia 101 kms

North Macedonia has no coastline.

The highest point in North Macedonia is Maja e Korabit at 2,764 metres, shared with Albania.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of North Macedonia is 2.10 million people, making it the 31st largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 1.10 million are females and 1.00 million are males.

A person from North Macedonia is called a North Macedonian.

To be a citizen of North Macedonia, one of your parents must be a citizen of North Macedonia. It is not sufficient to be born in North Macedonia. You have to live in North Macedonia for 8 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in North Macedonia, by population are:-

• Skopje 506,926 people
• Bitola 74,550
• Kumanovo 70,842
• Prilep 66,246
• Tetovo 52,915

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



57.1% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in North Macedonia is 11.5 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in North Macedonia is 9.1 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 7.2 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 7.8 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 38.6 and for males is 36.4. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 26.2.

The elderly dependency ratio is 17.7. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 5.6. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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North Macedonia spends 6.5% of its total income on health care.

There are 2.62 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 4.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

22.4% of the population are estimated as obese.

99.8% of the urban population and 98.9% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

97.2% of the urban population and 82.6% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

North Macedonia releases 7.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 33rd highest in Europe.

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We have no figures as to how much North Macedonia spends of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in North Macedonia. Primary education is for nine years until age 15. Secondary education can continue afterwards before being followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week of September and finishes in the first week of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas and no more than a week at Easter.

96.8% of females and 98.8% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

48.2% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 48.8% are unemployed while with males 47.9% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in North Macedonia is 954,900.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

27.0% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 8 paved airports in North Macedonia, which is the 30th highest number in Europe.


There are 699 kilometres of railways in North Macedonia, which is the 33rd longest in Europe.


There are 14,182 kilometres of roads in North Macedonia, which means Macedonia is in 32nd place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 7 major national newspapers in North Macedonia.

There are 2.2 million mobile phone users.

18% of the people have a fixed landline.



1.50 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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