The census in North Macedonia conducted in September 2021 shows that just 3504 people identified themselves as Bulgarians, said Apostol Simovski, director of the State Statistical Institute in North Macedonia. At the same time, for the past 15 years, more than 86,000 citizens of the country have acquired Bulgarian passports, according to data from the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice.

According to the census, 2,097,319 people live in North Macedonia - 54% of them identify as Macedonians, 30% as Albanians, 4% as Turks, 2% as Roma, 1% as Serbs, 1% as Bosniaks and 0.5% as Vlachs. "The census was conducted successfully and professionally," Apostol Simovski said, adding that the data was processed for record low time.