North Macedonia

North Macedonia (formerly known as Macedonia until February 2019), formally the Republic of North Macedonia, is a republic in the Southeast European nation of Macedonia. It won independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 as one of the successor republics of that country. North Macedonia is a landlocked nation having borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. It occupies roughly one-third of the larger geographical area of Macedonia, which is located in the northern hemisphere. Skopje, the country's capital and biggest city, is home to about a quarter of the country's total population of 1.83 million people. The ethnic Macedonians, who are a South Slavic group, constitute the vast majority of the population. Albanians are a large minority, accounting for around 25 percent of the population, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians, and a few smaller ethnicities, among others.

A hybrid Thraco-Illyrian political entity, the kingdom of Paeonia is where the history of the area began. The territory was first subdued by the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the late sixth century BC, and subsequently integrated into the Kingdom of Macedonia in the fourth century BC, according to historical records. The Roman Empire captured the territory in the second century BC and annexed it to the greater province of Macedonia, which became known as the Kingdom of Macedon. However, Slavic tribes began raiding and settling in the region in the sixth century of the Christian period, and the territory remained part of the Byzantine Empire throughout its history. In the aftermath of centuries of conflict between the Bulgarian, Byzantine, and Serbian Empires, it became a part of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-14th century until the early twentieth century, when the modern territory of North Macedonia was annexed by Serbia following the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913.

The region was administered by Bulgaria throughout the First World War; however, it reverted to Serbian control after the war's conclusion as part of the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The country was once again administered by Bulgaria throughout World War II, and in 1945 it was admitted as a component state of communist Yugoslavia, where it remained until its peaceful independence from the socialist country in 1991. It was recognised as a member of the United Nations in April 1993, but because of a disagreement with Greece over the use of the name "Macedonia," it was designated as the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" at the time of admission (abbreviated as "FYR Macedonia" or "FYROM"). Macedonia and Greece reached a settlement in their dispute in June 2018, agreeing that the nation should be renamed the "Republic of North Macedonia." This name became effective in February of this year.

North Macedonia is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic that is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, the OSCE, the CEFTA, the BSEC, and the World Trade Organization. As of 2005, it has also been considered as a candidate for membership in the European Union. Located in the upper-middle-income bracket, North Macedonia has experienced significant economic reform since gaining independence, with the goal of establishing a market-oriented economy. Although North Macedonia is a developing nation, it ranks 82nd on the Human Development Index, and it offers its residents with social security, a universal health care system, as well as free primary and secondary education, among other benefits.