Background and political system
With a population just over 1.8 million people, North Macedonia is located in Southeastern Europe, landlocked, bordering Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo*, and Serbia. North Macedonia’s first multiparty elections were held in 1990.
The Constitution of North Macedonia, adopted in 1991 and subsequently amended, provides the framework for the country's political institutions and governance. North Macedonia is a unitary parliamentary constitutional Republic, divided into 70 municipalities (opstini) outside of the City of Skopje. Within the City of Skopje there is an upper tier of the city (grad) and a lower tier of 10 municipalities. The country governs via central and local government structures.
North Macedonia’s government consists of the Executive and Legislative branches, complemented by the Judicial branch. The central government is led by the President of the Republic who acts as Head of State and serves for a five-year term. The Prime Minister is Head of Government, and is elected by the Assembly. The executive branch’s Council of Ministers consists of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, and ministers elected by the Assembly. The legislative Assembly, called the Sobraine, is formed by 120-140 members elected directly in multi-seat constituencies by closed-list proportional representation vote. The judicial branch hosts the North Macedonian Supreme Court of 22 judges, and the Constitutional Court of nine judges, in addition to subordinate courts.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment
Women’s right to vote and stand for election was first ensured in the country in 1945 and confirmed after independence from the Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. North Macedonia’s first multiparty elections as an independent state were held in in 1990. The first woman elected to parliament after independence was in 1990.
In the area of gender equality and women’s rights, considerable strides have been made in recent years. According to UN Women, 91.7 percent of the legal frameworks that promote, enforce, and monitor gender equality under SDG 5, are in place. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Index, North Macedonia ranks 58th out of 146 countries, a significant improvement from its 2023 ranking of 73rd and its 2022 ranking of 69th. Gaps are still persistent in the areas of women’s economic empowerment, with a gender gap in the labour force participation rate of more than 20 percentage points, and women’s low representation as managers and senior officials. Moreover, traditional norms still place the majority of the care burden on women, presenting challenges to sharing domestic work equally and to pursuing meaningful, equally compensated employment outside the home.
Structure of parliament
The Parliament is composed of 120-140 deputies elected to four-year terms, through a closed-list proportional representation system, and is responsible for creating policies and laws on advice from the executive branch, approving appointed officials, enforcing legislative initiatives, and supervising the work of the Government.
The electoral code, as amended through 2021, establishes that at least 40 percent of the candidates shall be of the less represented sex.
Women's representation in parliament
As of July 2024, the Parliament of North Macedonia has 43 women members out of a total of 120 deputies, representing 35.8 percent. The current Secretary General, Marina Dimovska, is a woman. The next elections will be held in 2028.
Forecast based on past trends
If changes continue at the current pace, this is how women's representation in parliament will look like by 2030.
We calculated this forecast by taking the average rate of improvement from 1995 to 2023 and projecting it into the future.
Forecast based on recent trends
If changes registered in the past five years continue, this is how women's representation in parliament will look like by 2030.
We calculated this forecast by taking the average rate of change in the past five years and projecting it into the future.
Best case forecast
If the situation improves similarly to the country performing best in the region, this is how women's representation in parliament will look like by 2030.
We calculated this forecast by taking the rate of improvement from the country performing best in the region and accelerating the change with this amount over five years and then keeping it constant.
Worst case forecast
If the situation deteriorates similarly to the country registering the worst drop in the region, this is how women's representation in parliament will look like by 2030.
We calculated this forecast by taking the drop rate in the country performing worst in the region and deteriorating the situation with this amount over five years and then keeping it constant.
Women Chairpersons of Parliament Committees
The North Macedonian Parliament has 23 specialized Committees on the topics of Inter-Community Relations; Constitutional Issues; Oversight of the Implementation of Measures for Interception of Communications; Protection of Civil Freedoms and Rights; Foreign Policy; National Security and Intelligence; Health Care; Rules of Procedure; Equal Opportunities for Men and Women; Transport and Environment; Political System and Inter-Ethnic Relations; Finance and Budget; Local Self-Government; Culture; Legislation; European Affairs; Labour and Social Policy; Defense and Security; Economy; Education, Science and Sport; Election and Appointment Issues; Agriculture, Forestry and Water Resource Management, and the Verification Committee.
As of July 2024, women are the chairpersons of the Education, Science and Sport Committee (Ivanka Vasilevska), the Health Care Committee (Rashela Mizrahi), the Verification Committee (Dafina Stojanoska), the Culture Committee (Saranda Imeri-Stafai), the Committee on Labour and Social Policy (Ilire Dauti), the Finances and Budget Committee (Sanja Lukarevska), and the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men (Zaklina Peshevska).
Structure of government
Central government
The North Macedonian President is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, makes diplomatic appointments and grants pardons. The Prime Minister proposes laws and controls the diplomatic policy to be adopted by the legislature.
The Cabinet is composed of 23 members, including the Prime Minister and his five deputies within the North Macedonian Government. The Cabinet is led by the Prime Minister (or President of the Government), and is responsible for supporting and implementing the activities and priorities in the mandate of the President.
The current Prime Minister of North Macedonia is Hristijan Mickoski, who has been in power since 2024, while the current President is Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, who has been in power since 2024, and serves as the country’s first woman President. The first and only woman Prime Minister was Radmila Sekerinska, who was Acting Prime Minister in 2004. As of July 2024, there are only three women in the North Macedonian Government: Sanja Bozinovska (Minister of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources), Vesna Janevska (Minister of Education and Science) and Gordana Dimitrieska Kochovska (Minister of Finance).
Ministers or Cabinet Members
Sanja Bozinovska
Minister of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources
Vesna Janevska
Minister of Education and Science
Gordana Dimitrieska Kochovska
Minister of Finance
Local government
At the local level, the government is organized into one or two tiers. There is an upper tier of the City of Skopje (Qyteti i Shkupit) and a lower tier of its ten municipalities, and a single tier of 70 municipalities (komunat) located outside of Skopje.
At both tiers, local governments are comprised of deliberative bodies, or councils, and executive bodies. Local deliberative bodies are made up of elected members and a council chairperson. The gender quota also extends to local government representation, with a 40 percent requirement of women in candidate nomination lists. Local executive bodies consist of the Mayor for the City of Skopje, and of the municipal administration and the Mayor for municipalities.
For more information on gender quotas adopted at the national level, visit the women in parliament section.
Structure of public administration
The central government is responsible for determining the policy of carrying out the laws and other regulations of the Assembly; proposing laws, the budget of the Republic and other regulations; adopting bylaws; laying down principles on the internal organization and work of the Ministries; establishing diplomatic and consular relations with other states; proposing the Public Prosecutor.
Local government bodies are largely responsible for North Macedonia’s public administration when it comes to local matters of politics, administration, and finance. Within each local jurisdiction, local government is in charge of issuing statutes, regulations and decrees, establishing a local budget and levying taxes.
Women’s representation as employees and decision-makers in public administration
This visualization was developed based on data provided by GIRL@University of Pittsburgh.
Data across countries and territories is not comparable. For more information about the methodology and sources used, read here.
Women’s representation in public administration in North Macedonia at the employee level has experienced a notable increase. Women comprised 34.2 percent of public administration employees in 2023, a sizeable jump from 24.3 percent in 2018, indicating a path towards a more equal representation in public administration. At the decision-making level, women’s representation stood at 45.9 percent in 2023. However, this percentage has seen substantial fluctuations over time, with a high of 48.4 percent in 2008 and a decrease to 33.3 percent in 2010, underlining challenges to the achievement of gender equality in decision-making.