Demographics of the Republic of Macedonia

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Republic of Macedonia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populous, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Demographics of Macedonia

Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.
Population Increase 2 062 294 (2012)[1]
Growth rate Increase 0.16% (2012)
Birth rate Increase 11.4 per 1,000 (2012)
Death rate negative increase 9.8 per 1,000 (2012)
Life expectancy Increase 74.73 years (2010)
  male Increase 70.30 years (2012)
  female Increase 74.4 years (2012)
Fertility rate Increase 1.51 live births per woman (2012)
Infant mortality rate negative increase 9.8 per 1,000 (2012)
Net migration rate Increase 0.51 per 1,000 (2012)
Age structure
0–14 years Decrease 17.1% (2012)
15–64 years Increase 71.0% (2011)
65 and over Increase 11.9% (2012)
Sex ratio
At birth 1.08 male(s)/female (2012)
Under 15 1.08 male(s)/female (2004 est.)
15–64 years 1.02 male(s)/female (2004 est.)
65 and over 0.78 male(s)/female (2004 est.)
Nationality
Nationality noun: Macedonian(s) adjective: Macedonian
Major ethnic Macedonians Decrease (64.2%) (2002)
Minor ethnic

Albanians Increase (25.2%) (2002) Turks Decrease 3.9% (2002) Romani Increase 2.7% (2002)

Serbs Decrease 1.8% (2002)
Language
Official Macedonian
Spoken Macedonian, Albanian, Serbian, Turkish

Total population

European statistics, estimates from health insurance funds and no census in sight

According to statistics from the European Union, the actual population has been reduced by at least 230.000 people who emigrated into European Union member states between 1998 and 2001.[2] Further Albanian news sources estimated at October 2012 that the real population is closer to the sum of 1.744.237 people who are accounted within all of the health funds of the country.[3][4] According to Bozhidar Dimitrov, the Bulgarian authorities have granted 87.000 to many of those emigrants a Bulgarian passport, as of 2012, because they declared to be ethnic Bulgarians.[5][6] Since Bulgarias' entry in the European Union, and under pressure from fellow European Union members, Bulgaria imposed more stringent rules for the acquisition of a Bulgarian passport. The provisions of the Ohrid agreement to elevate any minority language if the minority in question is above 20% of the population of any municipality into a co-official language for that municipality[7] has created friction within the government, and between officials of different political and ethnic interests, resulting to the indefinite postponement of the census which started at 2011. The only other country remaining without a census for the second decade of the 21st century is Somalia. Since no funds have been allocated for a census in the state budget of 2014, there is no expectation for a census before 2015.[8]

Vital statistics[9][10]

Average population (x 1000) Live births Deaths Natural change Crude birth rate (per 1000) Crude death rate (per 1000) Natural change (per 1000) Fertility rates
1947 1 134 40 000 17 400 22 600 35.3 15.3 19.9
1948 1 162 42 900 18 600 24 300 36.9 16.0 20.9
1949 1 192 46 400 18 900 27 500 38.9 15.9 23.1
1950 1 230 49 560 18 023 31 537 40.3 14.7 25.6
1951 1 267 45 329 20 747 24 582 35.8 16.4 19.4
1952 1 298 51 054 17 978 33 076 39.3 13.9 25.5
1953 1 322 49 665 19 312 30 353 37.6 14.6 23.0
1954 1 341 50 984 16 722 34 262 38.0 12.5 25.5
1955 1 354 49 093 17 919 31 174 36.3 13.2 23.0
1956 1 363 47 486 15 386 32 100 34.8 11.3 23.6
1957 1 370 46 107 17 341 28 766 33.7 12.7 21.0
1958 1 375 44 619 13 917 30 702 32.5 10.1 22.3
1959 1 382 44 638 14 998 29 640 32.3 10.9 21.4
1960 1 392 44 059 14 007 30 052 31.7 10.1 21.6 4.11
1961 1 405 42 182 13 141 29 041 30.0 9.4 20.7 3.86
1962 1 423 40 615 16 155 24 460 28.5 11.4 17.2 3.68
1963 1 442 41 284 13 229 28 055 28.6 9.2 19.5 3.71
1964 1 462 42 897 13 286 29 611 29.3 9.1 20.3 3.81
1965 1 481 42 433 12 758 29 675 28.7 8.6 20.0 3.73
1966 1 499 41 434 12 307 29 127 27.6 8.2 19.4 3.60
1967 1 516 40 763 12 523 28 240 26.9 8.3 18.6 3.49
1968 1 532 40 123 12 461 27 662 26.2 8.1 18.1 3.38
1969 1 550 40 342 13 112 27 230 26.0 8.5 17.6 3.33
1970 1 568 37 862 12 430 25 432 24.1 7.9 16.2 3.09
1971 1 587 37 904 12 447 25 457 23.9 7.8 16.0 3.02
1972 1 608 38 187 13 096 25 091 23.7 8.1 15.6 2.96
1973 1 629 37 478 12 217 25 261 23.0 7.5 15.5 2.82
1974 1 652 38 382 12 143 26 239 23.2 7.4 15.9 2.81
1975 1 676 39 579 12 629 26 950 23.6 7.5 16.1 2.87
1976 1 701 39 809 12 377 27 432 23.4 7.3 16.1 2.80
1977 1 728 38 932 12 899 26 033 22.5 7.5 15.1 2.64
1978 1 754 38 790 12 577 26 213 22.1 7.2 14.9 2.58
1979 1 777 39 407 12 653 26 754 22.2 7.1 15.1 2.48
1980 1 795 39 784 13 534 26 250 22.2 7.5 14.6 2.59
1981 1 806 39 488 13 378 26 110 21.9 7.4 14.5 2.67
1982 1 812 39 789 13 502 26 287 22.0 7.5 14.5 2.64
1983 1 816 39 210 14 391 24 819 21.6 7.9 13.7 2.51
1984 1 820 38 861 14 066 24 795 21.4 7.7 13.6 2.47
1985 1 828 38 722 14 408 24 314 21.2 7.9 13.3 2.51
1986 1 841 38 234 14 438 23 796 20.8 7.8 12.9 2.49
1987 1 857 38 572 14 644 23 928 20.8 7.9 12.9 2.45
1988 1 875 37 879 14 565 23 314 20.2 7.8 12.4 2.43
1989 1 893 35 927 14 592 21 335 19.0 7.7 11.3 2.30
1990 1 909 35 401 14 643 20 758 18.5 7.7 10.9 2.20
1991 1 923 34 830 14 789 20 041 18.1 7.7 10.4 2.17
1992 1 934 33 238 16 022 17 216 17.2 8.3 8.9 2.11
1993 1 944 32 374 15 591 16 783 16.7 8.0 8.6 2.15
1994 1 954 33 487 15 771 17 716 17.1 8.1 9.1 2.22
1995 1 963 32 154 16 338 15 816 16.4 8.3 8.1 2.13
1996 1 974 31 403 16 063 15 340 15.9 8.1 7.8 2.06
1997 1 984 29 478 16 596 12 882 14.9 8.4 6.5 1.94
1998 1 994 29 244 16 870 12 374 14.7 8.5 6.2 1.90
1999 2 004 27 309 16 789 10 520 13.6 8.4 5.2 1.77
2000 2 012 29 308 17 253 12 055 14.6 8.6 6.0 1.89
2001 2 018 27 010 16 919 10 091 13.4 8.4 5.0 1.74
2002 2 024 27 761 17 962 9 799 13.7 8.9 4.8 1.80
2003 2 028 27 011 18 006 9 005 13.3 8.9 4.4 1.77
2004 2 032 23 361 17 944 5 417 11.5 8.8 2.7 1.52
2005 2 037 22 482 18 406 4 076 11.0 9.0 2.0 1.43
2006 2 040 22 585 18 630 3 955 11.1 9.1 1.9 1.45
2007 2 044 22 688 19 594 3 094 11.1 9.6 1.5 1.46
2008 2 047 22 945 18 982 3 963 11.2 9.3 1.9 1.47
2009 2 051 23 684 19 060 4 624 11.5 9.3 2.3 1.52
2010 2 057 24 296 19 148 5 148 11.9 9.3 2.6 1.55
2011 2 061 22 770 19 465 3 305 11.1 9.5 1,6 1.46
2012 2 062 23 568 20 134 3 434 11.4 9.8 1.7 1.51
2013[11] 2 064 23 138 19 208 3 930 11.2 9.3 1.9 1.58
2014p[12] 2 068 23 674 19 682 3 992 11.4 9.5 1.9

Ethnic groups

The process of industrialization and urbanization after the Second World War that caused the population growth to decrease involved the ethnic Macedonians to a greater extent than Muslims. Rates of increase were very high among rural Muslims: Turks and Torbesh (Macedonian Muslims) had rates 2.5 times those of the Macedonian majority, while Albanians and Roma had rates 3 times as high. This resulted in a significant demographic change as the Albanian population grew from 17% after the Second World War to 25% in the 1990s. This caused an increase in political tension and ultimately, after a brief conflict, forced the country to undertake reforms that decentralized the government. In 1994, Macedonian Slavs had a TFR of 2.07, while the TFR of others were - Albanian (4.10), Turkish (3.55), Roma (4.01), Serb (2.07), Vlachs (1.88) and Others (3.05). The TFR by religions was - Christian (2.17,with 2.20 for Catholics and 2.06 for Orthodox), Islam (4.02) and others (2.16).[13]

However, it is unlikely that this high Muslim TFR has continued since then in Macedonia, as Balkan Muslim fertility elsewhere (Albania, Bosnia, and Kosovo) has dropped sharply toward the European average. A more recent survey[14] pegs Muslim fertility in Macedonia at 1.7, versus 1.3 for non-Muslims. The Muslim groups' identification is itself fluid and has changed over the decades, as many Muslims who called themselves Turks after World War II, especially in the 1953 census, changed their ethnic affiliation to Albanian over the succeeding decades.

Population of Macedonia according to ethnic group 1948-2002[15]
Ethnic
group
census 1948 census 1953 census 1961 census 1971 census 1981 census 1991 census 19941 census 2002
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Macedonians 789,648 68.5 860,699 66.0 1,000,854 71.2 1,142,375 69.3 1,281,195 67.0 1,328,187 65.3 1,295,964 66.6 1,297,981 64.2
Albanians 197,389 17.1 162,524 12.5 183,108 13.0 279,871 17.0 377,726 19.8 441,987 21.7 441,104 22.7 509,083 25.2
Turks 95,940 8.3 203,938 15.6 131,481 9.4 108,552 6.6 86,691 4.5 77,080 3.8 78,019 4.0 77,959 3.9
Romani 19,500 1.7 20,462 1.6 20,606 1.5 24,505 1.5 43,223 2.3 52,103 2.6 43,707 2.2 53,879 2.7
Serbs 29,721 2.6 35,112 2.7 42,728 3.0 46,465 2.8 44,613 2.3 42,775 2.1 40,228 2.1 35,939 1.8
Muslims 1,560 0.1 1,591 0.1 3,002 0.2 1,248 0.1 39,555 2.1 31,356 1.5 15,418 0.8 2,553 0.1
Bosniaks 6,829 0.3 17,018 0.8
Montenegrins 2,348 0.2 2,526 0.2 3,414 0.2 3,246 0.2 3,940 0.2 3,225 0.1 2,318 0.1 2,003 0.1
Croats 2,090 0.2 2,770 0.2 3,801 0.3 3,882 0.2 3,349 0.2 2,878 0.1 2,248 0.1 2.686 0.1
Yugoslavs 1,260 0.1 3,652 0.2 14,240 0.7
Vlachs 9,511 0.8 8,668 0.7 8,046 0.6 7,190 0.4 6,392 0.3 7,764 0.4 8,601 0.4 9,695 0.5
Bulgarians 889 0.1 920 0.1 3,087 0.2 3,334 0.2 1,984 0.1 1,370 0.1 1,682 0.1 1.417 0.1
Others or unspecified 4,390 0.4 5,304 0.4 4,616 0.3 22,988 1.4 6,228 0.3 45,239 2.2 9,814 0.5 14,8872 0.7
Total 1,152,986 1,304,514 1,406,003 1,647,308 1,909,136 2,033,964 1,945,932 2,022,547
1 Since 1994 residents who were permanently living abroad were no longer included

2 Ashkali: 3,713 or 0.184%, Greeks: 422 or 0.021%, Russians: 368 or 0.018%, Slovenes: 365 or 0.018%, Poles: 162 or 0.008%, Ukrainians: 136 or 0.007%, Germans: 88 or 0.004%, Czechs: 60 or 0.005%, Slovaks: 60 or 0.005%, Jews: 53 or 0.003%, Italians: 46 or 0.002%, Austrians: 35 or 0.002%, Rusyns: 24 or 0.001%, Regionally affiliated: 829 or 0.041%, Non-declared: 404 or 0.02%, Others: 5332 or 0.264%

Languages

Religions

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Age structure

Sex ratio

Infant mortality rate

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate

HIV/AIDS

Nationality

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Demographics of the Republic of Macedonia.