About Macedonia
Demographics
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Macedonia has an estimated population of 2,055,915[32] citizens, according to the last population census in 2002 with 58% of the population living in urban areas. he largest ethnic group in the country are the ethnic Macedonians.According to the 2002 census,[28] 1,297,981 inhabitants declared themselves to be Macedonians, representing 64.18% of the total population. Approximately 500,000 inhabitants are declared as Albanians, representing 25.2% of the population.[29] Smaller ethnic minorities include Turks (77,959 or 3.85%), Roma (53,879 or 2.66%), Serbs (35,939 or 1.78%), Bosniaks (17,018 or 0.84%), Vlachs (9,695 or 0.48%), and other (20,993 or 1.04%). The Macedonian national census records most ethnic groups, but the smaller ones, such as Bulgarians and Greeks, are not enumerated separately in the final report.
Language
Language
A wide vari
ety of languages are spoken in the Republic of Macedonia, reflecting its ethnic diversity. The official and most widely spoken language is Macedonian, which belongs to the Eastern branch of the South Slavic language group. Its current form was codified after World War II and has accumulated a thriving literary tradition.
Other languages including Albanian, Bulgarian, Romani, Turkish, Serbian, Vlach (Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian), Circassian, Greek and others are spoken roughly in proportion with their associated ethnic groups.
Macedonian is the only language explicitly designated as an official national language in the constitution. It also provides however that languages spoken by over 20% of the total population are also official - at present, only Albanian fulfills this requirement. Additionally, in municipalities where at least 20% of the population is from other ethnic minorities, their individual languages are used for official purposes in local government.
Religion
The majority (64.7%) of the population belongs to the Macedonian Orthodox C
hurch (which declared autocephaly in 1968, that is still not recognised by the Serbian and other Eastern Orthodox Churches, although the Archbishop's Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church, with Decision No. 06/1959, has recognised the autonomy of the Macedonian Orthodox Church [35][unreliable source?]). Muslims comprise 33.3% of the population and other Christian denominations comprise 0.37%. The remainder (1.63%) is recorded as "unspecified" in the 2002 national census [36]. Most of the native Albanians, Turks and Bosniaks are Muslims, as are a minority of the country's ethnic Macedonian population, known as Macedonian Muslims. Altogether, there are more than 1200 churches and 400 mosques in the country. The Orthodox and Islamic religious communities have secondary religion schools in Skopje. There is an Orthodox theological college in the capital. Macedonia has the largest proportion of Muslims of any country in Europe after Turkey, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
History
The lands gove
rned by the Republic of Macedonia were previously the southernmost part of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Its current borders were fixed shortly after World War II when the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia declared the People's Republic of Macedonia as a separate nation within Yugoslavia.
Over the centuries the territory which today forms the Republic of Macedonia was ruled by a number of different states and former empires.
ety of languages are spoken in the Republic of Macedonia, reflecting its ethnic diversity. The official and most widely spoken language is Macedonian, which belongs to the Eastern branch of the South Slavic language group. Its current form was codified after World War II and has accumulated a thriving literary tradition.Other languages including Albanian, Bulgarian, Romani, Turkish, Serbian, Vlach (Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian), Circassian, Greek and others are spoken roughly in proportion with their associated ethnic groups.
Macedonian is the only language explicitly designated as an official national language in the constitution. It also provides however that languages spoken by over 20% of the total population are also official - at present, only Albanian fulfills this requirement. Additionally, in municipalities where at least 20% of the population is from other ethnic minorities, their individual languages are used for official purposes in local government.
Religion
The majority (64.7%) of the population belongs to the Macedonian Orthodox C
hurch (which declared autocephaly in 1968, that is still not recognised by the Serbian and other Eastern Orthodox Churches, although the Archbishop's Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church, with Decision No. 06/1959, has recognised the autonomy of the Macedonian Orthodox Church [35][unreliable source?]). Muslims comprise 33.3% of the population and other Christian denominations comprise 0.37%. The remainder (1.63%) is recorded as "unspecified" in the 2002 national census [36]. Most of the native Albanians, Turks and Bosniaks are Muslims, as are a minority of the country's ethnic Macedonian population, known as Macedonian Muslims. Altogether, there are more than 1200 churches and 400 mosques in the country. The Orthodox and Islamic religious communities have secondary religion schools in Skopje. There is an Orthodox theological college in the capital. Macedonia has the largest proportion of Muslims of any country in Europe after Turkey, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina.History
The lands gove
rned by the Republic of Macedonia were previously the southernmost part of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Its current borders were fixed shortly after World War II when the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia declared the People's Republic of Macedonia as a separate nation within Yugoslavia.Over the centuries the territory which today forms the Republic of Macedonia was ruled by a number of different states and former empires.
