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General Information
Area: 25,713 sq km (9928 sq miles).
Note: The former Yugoslav republic of ‘Macedonia’ is only one of three areas of the historical region of ‘Macedonia’, which includes Pirin Macedonia (Bulgaria) and Aegean Macedonia (Greece), with a total area of 66,600 sq km (25,700 sq miles), most of which is in Greece. In deference to Greek sensibilities, the United Nations and other international organisations have formally recognised Macedonia under the interim name of ‘The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’; however this is gradually reverting to ‘The Republic of Macedonia’.
Population: 2,031,000 (2000).
Population Density: 79.0 per sq km.
Capital: Skopje. Population: 444,299 (1994).
GEOGRAPHY: Roughly rectangular in shape, and on the strategic Vardar Valley north–south communications route, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic) is landlocked, bordering Serbia to the north, Albania to the west, Greece to the south and Bulgaria to the east.
Government: Republic since 1991. Gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Head of State: President Boris Trajkovski since 1999. Head of Government: Premier Branko Crvenkovski since 2002.
Language: Macedonian (a slavonic language using the Cyrillic script) is the most widely used language. Albanian, Turkish and Serbo-Croat are also used by ethnic groups. English, French and German are widely spoken.
Religion: Over 65 per cent of the population are Eastern Orthodox Macedonians and around 23 per cent are Muslim Albanians. There are also Muslim Turks and Serbian Orthodox minorities. As elsewhere in the former Yugoslav federation, local politics are now strongly divided along national confessional lines.
Time: GMT + 1 (GMT + 2 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).
Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz.
Telephone
IDD is available. Country code: 389. Outgoing international code: 00. All telecommunications services are generally working normally.
Mobile telephone
GSM 900 network operated by Makedonski Telekomunikacii (website: www.mobimak.com.mk). Coverage is limited to the main towns.
Internet
ISPs include Macedonia On-Line (website: www.mol.com.mk). There are a few Internet cafes in the main towns.
Post
Services are working normally.
Press
The main daily newspapers are Dnevnik, Nova Makedonija, Flaka e Vėllazėrimit and Vecer (an evening paper). Weekly papers include Puls and Fokus. The Macedonian Times comes out monthly in English and Macedonian.
BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change.
BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice):
Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov):
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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