Croats in North Macedonia

Ethnic Croats form a small minority North Macedonia. As of 2002, there were 2,686 declared Croats living in the country . They mostly live in the capital city Skopje, the second largest city Bitola and around Lake Ohrid.

In 2006, Croatian President Stjepan Mesić and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski announced that the Croats would receive national minority status in Macedonia.

Union of Croats of Macedonia

The Union of Croats in Macedonia (Croatian: Zajednica Hrvata u Republici Sjevernoj Makedoniji; Macedonian: Заедница на Хрватите во Македонија, romanized: Zaednica na Hrvatite vo Makedonija) is the name of an umbrella group which represents the ethnic Croats living in North Macedonia. The Union was founded in 1996.^[1] It is headquartered in Skopje, with branches in Bitola, Štip and Ohrid-Struga.^[1] The Union has 1,187 members as of 2008^[update],^[1] which is approximately 45% of the entire Croat population in the Republic of Macedonia, according to the 2002 census.^[2]

In 2005, along with the Croatian Heritage Foundation, the union organised the Week of Croats in Macedonia in Zagreb as part of its annual minority week.^{[citation needed]}

Number of Croats in North Macedonia and their % share of the population between 1953–1991^[3]

North Macedonia	1953	1961	1971	1981	1991
Croats	2,710 (0.2%)	3,750 (0.3%)	3,882 (0.2%)	3,307 (0.2%)	2,450 (0.1%)

See also

•  Croatia portal
•  North Macedonia portal

• Croatia–North Macedonia relations
• Croats
• Ethnic groups in North Macedonia
• Macedonians of Croatia

References

1. (in Croatian)
2. Hrvatska nacionalna manjina u Makedoniji (in Croatian) May 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
3. Damir Magaš (2015). "Population and Settlements of Croatia". The Geography of Croatia. University of Zadar. p. 321.

External links

• Hrvati i njihovi potomci u Makedoniji
• (in Croatian)