2/10/2007 - Abaout Macedonia

POPULATION OF MACEDONIA   The Republic of Macedonia is located in South-East Europe, in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. The significance of the geographical position of Macedonia as a central Balkan state bordering with four countries, different in their economic potentials and development is especially underlined by the fact that they are directed towards each others in terms of trade, complementariness of their economies, with the main routes passing exactly through the territory of the Republic of Macedonia.
BASIC DATA Population
2.063.122
Area
total area: 25.333 km2 water surface: 477 km2 land: 24.856 km2
Borders
Total: 766 km Neighbouring countries:
Albania 151 km (to the West) Bulgaria 148 km (to the East) Greece 246 km (to the South) Serbia and Montenegro 221 km (to the north)
Capital city
Skopje Inhabitants: 467.257
Major cities
Name Number of inhabitants Kumanovo 105.484 Bitola 95.385 Prilep 76.768 Tetovo 86.580 Veles 55.108 Ohrid 55.749 Gostivar 81.042 Stip 47.796 Strumica 54.676 Kavadarci 38.741 Struga 63.376 Kocani 38.092 Kicevo 30.138 Radovis 28.244
Out of the total number of 2.022.547 population according to the last Census, there are 1.297.981 Macedonians or 64,18%, then 509.083 Albanians or 25,17%, Turks 77.959 or 3,85%, Roma 53.879 or 2,66%, Vlachs 9.695 or 0,48%, Serbs 35.939 or 1,78%, Bosniaks 17.018 or 0,84%, while 20.993 persons of the total population have declared themselves as belonging to other ethnic communities. The number of households is 564.296, and of dwellings is 698.143. Out of the total population of 2.022.547, the population up to 19 years of age is 591.702 persons, while those of 60 years of age and older are 303.534. The persons of 65 years of age and older make up 10,57 % of the total population, while the young population of 0 to 14 years of age makes up 21,08 % of the total population.
Age Total Men Women 0-14 426.280 219.628 206.652 15-64 1.381.352 698.997 682.355 65 and older 213.712 96.428 117.284 unknown 1.203 324 879 total 2.022.547 1.015.377 1.007.170
All data on the number and structure of the population are according to the 2002 Census
National currency
Denar
TRANSPORTATION LINKS Transport
Railway: 920 km Highway: 10.600 km Airports: 2 Gas pipelines: 10 km
Telecommunications
Telecom operators: 1 (98 % digitalized) Operable telephone lines: 560.026 (June 2002) Mobile telephone operators: 2 ("MobiMak" and "Cosmofon") Mobile phone lines: 532.000 Internet users: about 150.000 Internet access services:
Dial up access through PSTN with 56êb/s speed; Access through ISDN network with 64 kb/s; 128kb/s; Access through pre-paid cards; Access through rented lines.
Energy
Electric power production: 6.465 billion êWh (2001) Electric power resources according to type of fuel:
Fossil fuel: 83,7% Water: 16,3% Other type: 0% (2001) Nuclear: 0% Electric power consumption: 6.112 billion êWh (2001) Petrol consumption: 20.000 bbl/day (2001)
Being situated in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula, the Republic of Macedonia is the crossroads of strategic routes, which connect West and Central Europe with Greece, then Turkey and the Near East. Hence, Macedonia has extraordinary important geo-strategic position.
Road transportation
The current total length of the road network in Macedonia is 10.600 km: 6.830 km or 64,5% are local roads 2.820 km or 26,5% are regional roads, and 950 km or 9% are highways. The length of modern roads is 5.100 km. The major highway is the international highway No.E75. It starts in Ostend, Belgium, goes through Brussels- Nuremberg, Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade-Thessalonica ending in Athens, Greece. This highway’s total length in the Republic of Macedonia is 201 km. It goes through the central parts of the country, being the main artery of the road transport network in the country.
Railway transportation
The length of the existing railway lines 920 km, with 168 railway stations. There are good railway connections with the Republic of Greece and with Serbia and Montenegro. The goal to be logically pursued in this context is to connect the existing railway network with the other neighbouring countries – Bulgaria and Albania. The Macedonian railway network can be linked to the Bulgarian railway network by constructing a new railway line of 46 km between Beljakovce to the Macedonian-Bulgarian border, while the link with the Albania railway can be made by the construction of 65 km railway line from Kicevo to Kafasan in Albania. These links will be in fact contribution to the construction of the East-West Corridor with 295 km lines. Hence Macedonia will be connected with the Adriatic Sea to the West and with the Black Sea to the East.
Air traffic
There two airports in Macedonia: Ohrid and Skopje, with several international connections There are also local and recreational air navigation centres in Logovardi, Ovce Pole and in Kumanovo. 90% of the passengers use the Skopje Airport, the remaining 10% using the facilities of the Ohrid Airport.
Energy Sector
Macedonia has the potentials of independently satisfying the demands for electric power energy. About 80% of the demanded energy is provided through domestic production of energy in thermo and hydro electric power plants . The Electric Power Company of Macedonia (ÅSÌ) is an independent public enterprise in producing, transmitting and distributing electric power energy. The ESM is currently in the restructuring and pre-privatisation stage. The total production capacities of the ESM are 1500 mW of which 1/3 are produced in small and large hydropower plants, while the remaining 2/3 are produced in thermo electric power plants. The Bitola Mining and Electric Power Plant with 3 h 225 mW is the largest and highly concentrated producer of electric power in the country. The main transmission network consists of 400 kV, 220 kV and 110 kV transmission lines throughout the country. The energy is distributed through 28 separate units, in which context the Electric Power Distribution Company of Skopje has the dominant position covering almost 33% of the entire electric power consumption in Macedonia. It is important to state that the ESM has about 650.000 consumers. The oil pipe between Skopje and Thessalonica has already been constructed, and the gas pipeline for transmission of Russian natural gas from the Bulgarian border to Skopje is under construction. Currently there are actitivities for the realization of the project for construction of combined cycle thermoelectric gas power plants in Skopje, producing electric and heating energy.