CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NATURAL MOVEMENT OF THE POPULATION IN REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA, 2018
The aim of this study is to analyse the demographic components, with focus on the changes that occur in the number of the population, the density by which is the country populated, the natural flow (movement) of the population, emphasis on the natural growth of the population. As elsewhere in the world, the population in the Republicof North Macedonia as well plays a main role and it is the main factor for the growth and development of the country. However, the population is subject to change and growth depending on various factors such as natural, economical and social factor. The demographic development is expressed through the indicators of the components of the natural movement: natality, fertility, mortality, etc. The number of the population is one of the key factors that is influencing the socio-economic development. As the population is both productive on one side and consumer of material goods on the other, production and consumption depends on the number of the population. Compared to the historical development of human society, in the Republic of North Macedonia, the role of the population in the production process has changed. These changes are most noticeable in the last decades, when the technical-scientific progress has taken a big step, thus significantly affecting the population-production ratios. At the end of the second millennium and the beggining of the third one in North Macedonia's geographic area, significant changes have taken place in the socio-economic plan and especially in the demographic one of its population. Special emphasis is given to the natural movement of the population, which affects the movement of the total population in the Republic of North Macedonia. In this paper we will treat the natural increase of the population in the Republic of North Macedonia for the period from 1994 to the present day, namely its ratio by nationality. Of particular importance in this paper are the spatial and national differences of the natural population movement in the Republic of North Macedonia, and mainly to present more clearly these differences, we have analyzed the latest 2018 data by the Statistical Office of the Republic of North Macedonia for the natural increase of the population of the municipalities, which we have presented in tabular, graphic and cartographic form. Given the differences in natural increase within the country, the expected results are foreseen in the discovery of relevant information about their changes, their trends, and the interaction between the basic indicators obtained by applying relevant statistical parameters and those that portray the development of Republic of North Macedonia over a given period of time. This paper attaches particular importance to the aforementioned demographic features during the period 2003 to 2018 at the state level.