North Macedonia

• mountainous with deep basins and valleys;
• three large lakes, each divided by a frontier line;
• country bisected by the Vardar River

agricultural land:

44.3%;

• arable land 16.4%;
• permanent crops 1.4%;
• permanent pasture 26.5%

forest:

39.8%

other:

15.9% (2011 est.)

party to:

Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

noun:

Macedonian(s)

adjective:

Macedonian

at birth:

1.08 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.07 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1.07 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.96 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.75 male(s)/female

total population:

0.99 male(s)/female (2016 est.)

total number:

16,782

percentage:

6% (2005 est.)

name:

Skopje

geographic coordinates:

42 00 N, 21 26 E

time difference:

UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

• several previous;
• latest adopted 17 November 1991, effective 20 November 1991;
• amended several times, last in 2015 (2016)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Macedonia

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

8 years

chief of state:

President Gjorge IVANOV (since 12 May 2009)

head of government:

Interim Prime Minister Emil DIMITRIEV (since 18 January 2016); Prime Minister Nikola GRUEVSKI (since 26 August 2006) resigned on 15 January 2016

cabinet:

• Council of Ministers elected by the Assembly by simple majority vote;
• note - the 2014 cabinet formed by the government coalition parties VMRO-DPMNE, DUI, and several small parties;
• as a result of an agreement reached in July 2015 between the largest parties to resolve a 16-month opposition boycott of the Assembly, several minister and deputy minister positions were also given to the opposition SDSM

elections/appointments:

• president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 13 and 27 April 2014 (next to be held in 2019);
• following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually elected prime minister by the Assembly

election results:

Gjorge IVANOV reelected president in second round; percent of vote - Gjorge IVANOV (independent) 55.3%, Stevo PENDAROVSKI (SDSM) 41.1%, other 3.6%

description:

unicameral Assembly or Sobranie (123 seats; 120 members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 3 directly elected in diaspora constituencies worldwide by simple majority vote; members serve 4-year terms)

elections:

last held on 27 April 2014 (the election scheduled for 5 June 2016 has been postponed until 11 December 2016)

election results:

• percent of vote by party - VMRO-DPMNE 43.0%, SDSM 25.3%, BDI 13.7%, PDSh 5.9%, GROM 2.8%, RDK 1.6%, other 4.3%, invalid 3.4%;
• seats by party - VMRO-DPMNE 61, SDSM 34, BDI 19, PDSh 7, GROM 1, RDK 1

highest court(s):

Supreme Court (consist of NA judges); Constitutional Court (consists of 9 judges)

judge selection and term of office:

• 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

subordinate courts:

Courts of Appeal; Basic Courts

• Citizens Option for Macedonia or GROM [Stevco JAKIMOVSKI]
• Democratic Party of Albanians or PDSh [Menduh THACI]
• Democratic Union for Integration or BDI [Ali AHMETI]
• Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity or VMRO-DPMNE [Nikola GRUEVSKI]
• National Democratic Revival or RDK [Vesel MEMEDI]
• Social Democratic Union of Macedonia or SDSM [Zoran ZAEV]

note: during the 2014 parliamentary elections VMRO-DPMNE, SDSM, and GROM each led coalitions

• Federation of Free Trade Unions [Mirjana ANDREVSKA]
• Federation of Trade Unions [Zivko MITREVSKI]
• Trade Union of Education, Science and Culture or SONK [Jakim NEDELKOV]
• Student Plenum
• Eco Guerilla [Arianit XHAFERI]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Vasko NAUMOVSKI (since 18 November 2014)

chancery:

2129 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 667-0501

FAX:

[1] (202) 667-2131

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Detroit, New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador Jess L. BAILY (since 12 February 2015)

embassy:

Str. Samolilova, Nr. 21, 1000 Skopje

mailing address:

American Embassy Skopje, US Department of State, 7120 Skopje Place, Washington, DC 20521-7120 (pouch)

telephone:

[389] (2) 310-2000

FAX:

[389] (2) 310-2499

• 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

name:

"Denes nad Makedonija" (Today Over Macedonia)

lyrics/music:

Vlado MALESKI/Todor SKALOVSKI

note: written in 1943 and adopted in 1991 , the song previously served as the anthem of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia while part of Yugoslavia

agriculture:

18.3%

industry:

29.1%

services:

52.6% (2014 est.)

lowest 10%:

2.2%

highest 10%:

34.5% (2009 est.)

• foodstuffs, beverages, tobacco;
• textiles, miscellaneous manufactures, iron, steel;
• automotive parts

general assessment:

competition from the mobile-cellular segment of the telecommunications market has led to a drop in fixed-line telephone subscriptions

domestic:

combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular telephone subscribership about 120 per 100 persons

international:

country code - 389 (2015)

• public TV broadcaster operates 3 national channels and a satellite network;
• 5 privately owned TV channels broadcast nationally using terrestrial transmitters and about 15 broadcast on national level via satellite;
• roughly 75 local commercial TV stations;
• large number of cable operators offering domestic and international programming;
• public radio broadcaster operates over multiple stations;
• 3 privately owned radio stations broadcast nationally;
• about 70 local commercial radio stations (2012)

total:

699 km

standard gauge:

699 km 1.435-m gauge (223 km electrified) (2014)

country comparison to the world: 101

total:

14,182 km (includes 242 km of expressways)

paved:

9,633 km

unpaved:

4,549 km (2014)

country comparison to the world: 124

• Kosovo and Macedonia completed demarcation of their boundary in September 2008;
• Greece continues to reject the use of the name Macedonia or Republic of Macedonia

• 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