Ethnic groups in Albania

The official results of the September 2021 national headcount, published on Wednesday, show the country's population has shrunk by 9.2 per cent over two decades since the last census.

The population now stands at 1,836,713, which is 185,834 people less than the number recorded in the previous census conducted in 2002.

In the last three years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of North Macedonians who have become Bulgarian citizens. This is according to an official report of the Ministry of Justice, prepared and submitted specifically to the BGNES Agency.

Ethnic-based violations agitate North Macedonia

In North Macedonia, where a way out of the long-running political crisis still seems to be far off, ethnic and national divisions remain one of the main challenges that the new authorities face in the short run.

"When discussing delicate issues, I want to make it clear - no one is negotiating identity! Language and other attributes of identity are issues that derive from the right to self-determination of every person, of every people, of every ethnic community, of every state, and this is an inviolable right, stronger than any other right.

"We are no longer in the Yugoslav Union, we are entering into an alliance with the Republic of Bulgaria. We have already joined NATO, we are allies in NATO, and we want to join the EU. And we want to build our relationship in that direction.

The organizations of the Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia issued an appeal to the Bulgarian political leaders.

Almost three years after Katsifas’ murder, the Albanian authorities are mocking his family & the Ethnic Greek Minority with an unsubstantiated conclusion

Since early September Ilina Dimitrijevska has been walking endless kilometres every day, going door to door asking people to take part in North Macedonia's first census in nearly two decades.

Her task may be straightforward enough, but the census remains highly sensitive due to the potential impact on the nation's minorities.

Addressing the European Parliament (EP) on Thursday, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi encouraged Skopje and Sofia to redouble their efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution to the pending bilateral issues. The EP is expected to vote later in the day on the progress reports on North Macedonia and three other Western Balkan countries.

As ethnic Albanian parties battle for supremacy ahead of the spring general election, the formation of the first-ever mixed Macedonian-Albanian pre-election alliance has upset election calculations.