Macedonia has a transitional climate from Mediterranean to continental. The summers are hot and dry and the winters are moderately cold. Average annual precipitation varies from 1, 700 mm in the western mountainous area to 500 mm in the eastern area.

The official and most widely spoken language is Macedonian, which belongs to the Eastern branch of the South Slavic language group. Macedonian is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Standard Bulgarian.

The Macedonian denar (MKD), split into 100 Deni, is the official currency of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The denar was introduced on April 26, 1992.

http://www.macedonia.visahq.com

Macedonia's population was estimated at 2, 066, 720 in 2009. Around two-thirds of the people are Macedonian and about a quarter are Albanian.

Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. It was known in the Roman period under the name Scupi.