Croatian minority in the Republic of North Macedonia
Most Croats in the Republic of North Macedonia reside in the city of Skopje, Bitola and Stip, but there are also small groups of Croats living in other towns in central and eastern Macedonia - Kumanovo, Ohrid and Tetovo. It is estimated that around 4,000 Croats live in the Republic of North Macedonia. According to the census of 2002, 2,686 citizens declared themselves to be ethnic Croats. Croats are neither recognized as a national minority nor do they have a representative in Sobranie (Parliament) of the Republic of North Macedonia.
In order to develop stronger and closer relationships, the Agreement was signed in Split in 2007 between the Croatian Government and the Government of the Republic of Macedonia regarding the Protection of the Croatian minority in the Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian minority in Croatia respectively.
The implementation of this Agreement provides the Croats in Macedonia with better position in exercising their guaranteed rights. On the basis of the signed Agreement, the Intergovernmental Mixed Committee (MMO) for the protection of minorities was established by the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Croatian Government. The Third meeting of MMO was held in Skopje in June 2018 and then the fourth meeting was held in Zagreb on 8 July, 2019.
Based on the Law on Relationships between the Republic of Croatia and Croats Abroad the Government of the Republic of Croatia adopted the Decision on Establishing and Appointing the Members of the Council of the Government of Croatia for Croats Abroad, which held its constituting session in July, 2022, where the representative of the Croatian minority in the Republic of North Macedonia at the third Council convocation is Josip Tunić.
The Croatian community in North Macedonia based in Skopje was established in 1996. It encompasses the largest number of Croats. Its branch offices are in Bitola, Kumanovo, Ohrid, Struga and Štip.
The Macedonian-Croatian association, “Hrvatski kulturni centar Marko Marulić“ based in Bitola, was founded in 1993 and there are several Croatian associations and Croatian-Macedonian societies in the North Macedonia.
The goal of all these associations is to provide support to Croats in North Macedonia in preservation of the Croatian language, national history and culture and Croatian national identity.
At the Faculty of Philology “Blaze Koneski" at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje Academic course of the Croatian language was organized in 1998.
Since 2009/2010 school year the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia, assigns a Croatian.teacher who holds classes at the premises of Macedonian public schools in Skopje, Bitola, Kumanovo and Tetovo.
The Croatian community in the Republic of North Macedonia also publishes the quarterly "Hrvatska riječ."
Catholic church has been present in North Macedonia since the beginning of the 20th century at the level of diocese. There are churches in Skopje, Bitola, Ohrid and in Strumica and Gevgelija, where Greeek Catholics live under the patronage of diocese of Skopje.