Macedonia (region)

self-identify culturally and regionally as "Macedonians" (Greek: Μακεδόνες, Makedónes). They form the majority of the region's population (~51%). They number approximately 2,500,000 and, today, they live almost entirely in Greek Macedonia. The Greek Macedonian population is mixed, with other indigenous groups and with a large influx of Greek refugees descending from Asia Minor, Pontic Greeks, and East Thracian Greeks in the early 20th century. This is due to the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, during which over 1.2 million Orthodox Christian refugees from Turkey were settled in Greece, 638,000 of whom were settled in the Greek province of Macedonia.^[13] Smaller Greek minorities exist in Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia, although their numbers are difficult to ascertain. In official census results, only 86 persons declared themselves Greeks in Bulgarian Macedonia (Blagoevgrad Province) in 2011, out of a total of 1,379 in all of Bulgaria; while only 294 persons described themselves as Greeks in the 2021 census in the Republic of North Macedonia.^[14]

Macedonian Greeks

self-identify as "Macedonians" (Macedonian: Македонци, Makedonci) in an ethnic sense as well as in the regional sense. They are the second largest ethnic group in the region. Being a South Slavic ethnic group they are also known as "Macedonian Slavs" and "Slav Macedonians" (Greek: Σλαβομακεδόνες, "Slavomakedones") in Greece, though this term can be viewed as derogatory by ethnic Macedonians, including those in Greek Macedonia.^[15] They form the majority of the population in the Republic of North Macedonia where according to the 2021 census, approximately 1,100,000 people declared themselves as Macedonians.^[14] In 1999, the Greek Helsinki Monitor estimated a significant minority of ethnic Macedonians ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 that exist among the Slavic-speakers of Greek Macedonia.^[16][17] There has not been a census in Greece on the question of mother tongue since 1951, when the census recorded 41,017 Slavic-speakers, mostly in the West Macedonia periphery of Greece. The linguistic classification of the Slavic dialects spoken by these people are nowadays typically classified as Macedonian, with the exception of some eastern dialects which can also be classified as Bulgarian, although the people themselves call their native language a variety of terms, including makedonski, makedoniski ("Macedonian"),^[18][19] slaviká (Greek: σλαβικά, "Slavic"), dópia or entópia (Greek: εντόπια, "local/indigenous [language]"),^[20] balgàrtzki, bògartski ("Bulgarian")^[21] along with naši ("our own") and stariski ("old").^[22] Most Slavic-speakers declare themselves as ethnic Greeks (Slavophone Greeks), although there are small groups espousing ethnic Macedonian^[23] and Bulgarian national identities, however some groups reject all these ethnic designations and prefer terms such as "natives" instead.^[24] The Macedonian minority in Albania are an officially recognised minority in Albania and are primarily concentrated around the Prespa region^[25] and Golo Brdo and are primarily Eastern Orthodox Christian with the exception of the later region where Macedonians are predominantly Muslim.^[26] In the 2011 Albanian census, 5,870 Albanian citizens declared themselves Macedonians.^[27] According to the latest Bulgarian census held in 2011, there are 561 people declaring themselves ethnic Macedonians in the Blagoevgrad Province of Bulgaria (Pirin Macedonia). The official number of ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria is 1,654.

Ethnic Macedonians

Macedonia (terminology)

Demographic history of Macedonia

Macedonia (Greece)

Republic of North Macedonia

Blagoevgrad Province

History of Albania

History of the Balkans

History of Bulgaria

History of Greece

History of Greek Macedonia

History of the Republic of North Macedonia

History of Serbia

Macedonian nationalism

Irredentism

List of homonymous states and regions

at Curlie

Macedonia

at Curlie

Makedonski