The Macedonian census of 2021 has revealed over 29 percent of the population is ethnic Albanian.
On Wednesday, the State Statistical Office (SSO) published partial results of the first census conducted in 20 years in North Macedonia, between September 5-30, 2021.
The population of North Macedonia is 2,097,319, including residents and the diaspora, of which 54,21 percent identify themselves as Macedonian, 29.52 as Albanian, 3.98 as Turk, 2.34 percent as Roma.
However, the Macedonian SSO excluded the information on the overall population from their summary of census results, and instead presented only the number of residents in the country.
When residents only are considered, 58.44 percent self-identify as Macedonian, 24.30 percent as Albanian, 3.86 as Turk, and 2.53 percent as Roma.
The government decided to include separate head counting of residents and diaspora according to ethnicity following the Macedonian opposition’s request, who insisted that an overall head counting of citizens would result in a higher percentage of Albanians relative to Macedonians.
The percentage of the Albanian minority in North Macedonia is an important factor in the country’s politics since the armed conflict that ended in 2002, when Albanians earned some basic rights dependable on their population percentage such as the use of Albanian language and symbols in public institutions.
