Facts About Macedonia
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Republic of Macedonia is situated in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula and covers an area of 25,713 square kilometers. According to the 1991 population census, the total figure for the registered total and estimated population in the Republic of Macedonia was 2,033,964. More than half of the Republic's inhabitants (58.1%) live in urban areas, most of them in the capital, Skopje (450,000), followed by Bitola (98,000). On 8th of September 1991, the majority of the population in Republic of Macedonia, taking part in a referendum (95% of those voting) opted for a sovereign and independent Macedonia. On 17th of September 1991, the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia adopted a Declaration on the Acceptance of the Referendum Results. On 17th of November 1991, the Assembly adopted the New Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia as an independent and sovereign state. The Constitutions guarantees the rule of law, a democratic political system and individual rights. On 8th of April 1993, the Republic of Macedonia was unanimously and with acclamation admitted to membership of the United Nation Organization as its 181st member. Almost half of the population is over 30 years of age (958,974). There are 165,716 inhabitants of Macedonia, over 65 years of age (8,1% of the population). Macedonia has 34 mountain peaks exceeding 2000 meters. The highest is that of Mount Golem Korab, which is 2,753 meters above sea level. Mount Titov Vrv at the Shara Mountain is 2,748 meters high, while the peak of Turchin in the same range, reaches 2,702 meters. The Republic of Macedonia has 53 natural or artificial lakes.The largest is the lake of Ohrid, which, lying at an altitude of 693 meters, occupies an area of 349 square km., 118.9 of which belong to Albania. Lake Ohrid has a maximum depth of 286 metres. Lake Prespa covers 274 square km. (49.9 of which belong to Albania and 47.8 to Greece) and is 54 meters deep. Macedonia has four national parks (Galichica, Mavrovo, Pelister and Jasen) comprising a total are about 110,000 hectares. The town and lake of Ohrid have been placed under the protection of UNESCO as an outstanding environment. About 700,000 tourists spend more than 2,5 million nights annually, visiting the Macedonian lakes, mountains, spas and other tourist resorts. Hotel and catering facilities offer more than 80,000 beds, while the campsites can receive over 20,000 guests. International air traffic in the Republic of Macedonia operates through the two international airports of Skopje and Ohrid. The average daily number of departure and arrival flights is - 23. The railway network of Macedonia comprises 922 km. of tracks, of which 231 km. are electrified. There are some 10.000 km. of roads, 4,876 km. of which are asphalt; 944 km. are main roads. A modern motorway, 176 km. in length, extends from Macedonia's northern to its southern border. The road system carries over 35,000,000 passengers in about 7,000,000 tones of goods. There are over 50 radio and TV stations operating in Macedonia. Radio programs are broadcasted via 120 transmitters with total power of 1,743 kW. TV programs are broadcasted via 10 main transmitter centers. In addition to Macedonian, radio and TV stations in Macedonia broadcast special programs in Albanian, Turkish, Greek, Bulgarian, Romany and Vlach. Skopje television was the first in the world to broadcast programs in Albanian. The radio and TV programs broadcast in Romany-language in the Republic of Macedonia are the only broadcast in this language in the world. Numerous enterprises are involved in the production of films. Films are shown in 51 cinemas in a total of 20,000 seats. There are more than 20,000 projections with over 3,000,000 viewers (average per year). In 1905, the Brothers Janaki and Milton Manaki shot the first film footage in the Balkans. Thus laid the foundations of the seventh art in this region. One of them, Milton Manaki - living and cinematographing in the town of Bitola and its surroundings for almost whole of his life, put on deposit all his film and photo materials to the Macedonian State Archive. Later, these materials were put under the custody of the Cinematheque of Macedonia.
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