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EthnicCroats form a small minorityNorth Macedonia. As of 2002, there were 2,686 declared Croats living in the country[1]. They mostly live in the capital citySkopje, the second largest cityBitola and aroundLake Ohrid.
In 2006, Croatian PresidentStjepan Mesić and his Macedonian counterpartNikola Gruevski announced that the Croats would receive national minority status in Macedonia.
TheUnion 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 inSkopje, with branches inBitola,Štip andOhrid-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 theCroatian Heritage Foundation, the union organised theWeek of Croats in Macedonia inZagreb as part of its annual minority week.[citation needed]
| 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%) |
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| Other minority groups |
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