🇲🇰 North Macedonia

North Macedonia is a landlocked Balkan country of 1.8 million with a GDP of about $14 billion. The country spent 27 years in a name dispute with Greece (which has its own region called Macedonia) before adding "North" in 2019 — the Prespa Agreement was a diplomatic breakthrough that cleared the path for NATO membership. Skopje's city center was controversially rebuilt with neoclassical statues and buildings in the "Skopje 2014" project, creating a surreal aesthetic. The country is an EU candidate but accession talks have been blocked by Bulgaria over historical and linguistic disputes. Lake Ohrid, shared with Albania, is one of Europe's oldest and deepest lakes.

Automotive parts (a Johnson Matthey catalytic converter plant is the largest exporter), textiles, food processing, and metals are the main industries. Germany, Serbia, and Bulgaria are the top trade partners. The country has attracted some foreign manufacturing investment through low labor costs and free economic zones. GDP growth has been around 2-3%. Remittances from the diaspora contribute about 3% of GDP. Unemployment has been declining but remains above 14%.

Lake Ohrid is estimated to be 3-4 million years old, making it one of the oldest lakes in the world, and contains over 200 endemic species. Mother Teresa was born in Skopje (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in 1910. North Macedonia's Kokino megalithic observatory, dating to 1800 BC, was recognized by NASA as one of the world's oldest astronomical observatories.

North Macedonia resolved the name dispute only to hit the Bulgaria wall on EU accession. The economy is stable but unspectacular. Without EU progress, the brain drain to Western Europe will continue.