Population and Demographics

The largest ethnic group in the country are the Macedonians. According to the 2002 census, 1,297,981 inhabitants declared themselves to be Macedonians, representing 64.18% of the total population. Approximately 509,083 inhabitants are declared as Albanians, representing 25.17% of the population. 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 are not enumerated separately in the final report.

The majority of the population belongs to the Macedonian Orthodox Church (64.7%). 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. 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.

Facts and Figures

• Population: 2,038,514
• Age Structure:
  • 0-14 years: 19.8% (male 210,418/female 195,884)
  • 15-64 years: 69.1% (male 715,997/female 704,739)
  • 65 years and over: 11.1% (male 99,892/female 128,985)
• Median Age:
  • Total: 34.4 years
  • Male: 33.5 years
  • Female: 35.5 years
• Population Growth Rate: 0.263%
• Birth Rate: 12.02 births/1,000 population
• Death Rate: 8.78 deaths/1,000 population
• Net Migration Rate: -0.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population
• Sex Ratio:
  • At birth: 1.08 male(s)/female
  • Under 15 years: 1.074 male(s)/female
  • 15-64 years: 1.016 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.774 male(s)/female
  • Total population: 0.997 male(s)/female
• Infant Mortality Rate:
  • Total: 9.53 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Male: 9.69 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Female: 9.37 deaths/1,000 live births
• Life Expectancy at Birth:
  • Total population: 74.21 years
  • Male: 71.73 years
  • Female: 76.88 years
• Total Fertility Rate: 1.57 children born/woman
• HIV/AIDS:
  • Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1%
  • People living with HIV/AIDS: less than 200
• Ethnic Groups:
  • Macedonian 64.2%
  • Albanian 25.2%
  • Turkish 3.9%
  • Roma (Gypsy) 2.7%
  • Serb 1.8%
  • Other 2.2%
• Religions:
  • Macedonian Orthodox 64.7%
  • Muslim 33.3%
  • Other Christian 0.37%
  • Other and unspecified 1.63%
• Languages:
  • Macedonian 66.5%
  • Albanian 25.1%
  • Turkish 3.5%
  • Roma 1.9%
  • Serbian 1.2%
  • Other 1.8%
• Literacy:
  • Total population: 96.1%
  • Male: 98.2%
  • Female: 94.1%