Volume 1 Cedric - revised luca Final - RUIG-GIAN

the Referendum on the possible repeal of August legislation on local autonomy forAlbanians failed due to low turnout of voters, leading to Hari Kostov’s resignation. 95In March 2004 Macedonia submitted an application towards joining the EU.2.2. Demographic and social environmentAccording to a July 2004 survey, the total population of the Republic of Macedoniaamounts to 2,071,210 individuals. 96 21.5 per cent of the population is under 14 years old,the 15 to 60 age group lies at 67.8 per cent and 10.7 per cent of the population is 65 andolder. The population growth rate is 0.39 per cent with a net migration rate of -1.45migrants per 1,000 people.2.2.1. EthnicityThe main ethnic affiliations in the FYROM are Macedonian (64.2 per cent), Albanian(25.2 per cent), Turkish (3.8 per cent), Roma (2.7 per cent), Serb (1.8 per cent) and others(2.3 per cent). 68 per cent of the population speaks Macedonian and 25 speak Albanian.Predominant religions are Macedonian Orthodox Catholics (70 per cent), and Muslims (29per cent).It should be noted that most non-Macedonian ethnic communit ies question this data.A census organized by two Albanian political parties in 1993, found that ethnic Albaniansin Macedonia accounted for 35 per cent of the total population, while the politicalrepresentatives of the Turkish and Roma communities claim that their communitiesconstitute 8 and 10 per cent of the general population respectively.In the survey conducted for this project, attention has been paid to the representationof all ethnic groups composing the Macedonian population, including ethnic Macedoniansand Albanians, ethnic Bosnians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Germans, Vlachs, Turks and Roma.Most ethnic Albanians live in western Macedonia (including Debar, Gostivar, Kicevo,Resen, Struga and Tetovo) where they represent the numerical majority and more than 20per cent of the population of the capital Skopje is Albanian. In eastern Macedonia, thereare few Albanians, but significant numbers of Roma and Turks. 97 The ethnic Albaniancommunity represents roughly one-quarter to one-third of the population depending ondifferent data. The core problem of the social division between ethnic groups, particularlyalthough not exclusively between Macedonians and Albanians, remains the polarization ofopinions between groups on nearly every issue, for example minority rights. A publicsurvey carried out by the Institute of Sociological, Political and Legal Research in October2001 found polarization of opinion between ethnic Macedonians and Albanians on nearlyevery issue except EU adherence. By observing the geographical dissemination of ethnicgroups living in the FYROM we can assume there exists a significant risk of geographicpolarization. Thus the key challenge to governments at all levels is to bridge the ethnicdivision and encourage people to work constructively together.95 Information from http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1410364.stm96 The World Factbook, http://www.ciagov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mk.html97'Macedonia: Micro-credit, Poverty and Returning Ethnic Minorities', www.minorityrights.org/Dev/mrgdev_title_3114