Macedonia
Macedonia is located in the central Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern. The country is bordered by Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west. Macedonia declares its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. Since 1993 the country is a member of the United Nations; however Macedonia was admitted under the provisional reference of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, because of the disagreement with Greece. The capital of the country is Skopje, which is home to 506,926 inhabitants. The total infant mortality rate is 11.74 deaths/1,000 live births.
The population was seriously affected by the Second World War when starvation, executions, and deportations took place. Moreover, heavy fighting affected the country during the Greek Civil War which enhanced the emigration amongst many inhabitants of the rural areas of Macedonia to the towns and cities, or even abroad. Many parts of Macedonia are not densely inhabited even nowadays.
After the fall of communism (the late 1980s and early 1990s) , a large number of economic refugees and immigrants from other south-east European countries, such as Albania, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania and Serbia, as well as Russia, the Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia, have arrived in Greece (including Macedonia) in order to seek employment.
Since its independence Macedonia has undergone considerable economic reform. The country has developed an open economy with trade (more than 90% of GDP in the last years). Macedonia has had steady, though slow, economic growth during from 1996 so far. The inflation rate in the country is only 3% in 2006 and 2% in 2007. The government has adopted policies, focused on attracting foreign investments and helping the development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Related Projects
Product and Chemical Safety in the Balkans
"Civil society cooperation on EU acquis and on values for consumer and corporate responsibility"
15.02.2011 | WECF Project
