North Macedonia: data sheet

North Macedonia: about the data presented on this page

The national drug observatory (NDO) in North Macedonia is based at the Ministry of Health, but is not yet fully operational, and thus has a limited capacity to carry out studies and establish a national drug information system.

The data presented here are reported to the EUDA by the NDO on an annual basis and should conform to the respective EUDA guidelines and protocols. Details on methods and definitions can be found in the EUDA Statistical Bulletin.

Prevalence and patterns of drug use

Drug use in the adult population

The most recent general population survey in North Macedonia was conducted in 2017 with the financial support of the IPA4 project. The situation in North Macedonia may have changed since then, and the data should therefore be interpreted with caution.

Drug use in the school population

Information about drug use in the school population is available from the series of ESPAD surveys among 15- to 16-year-old students. The most recent survey was conducted in North Macedonia in 2024 and the data will be made available during 2025. The most recent data available are from 2019.  

European Web Survey on Drugs

North Macedonia participated in the 2021 and 2024 rounds of the European Web Survey on Drugs (EWSD); 2024 data will be available soon. Although web surveys are not representative of the general population, when they are carefully conducted and combined with traditional data collection methods, they can help paint a more detailed, realistic and timely picture of drug use and drug markets in Europe and the European neighbourhood. As such, they are a key ingredient in the EUDA responsiveness to an ever-shifting drug problem.

High-risk drug use

The most recent study was conducted in 2017 using respondent-driven sampling and estimates are available for Skopje and the whole country.

Drug-related harms

Infectious diseases

the monitoring of drug-related infectious diseases among people who inject drugs (PWID) in North Macedonia relies on bio-behavioural surveys supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Data on incidence (new cases attributed to injecting drug use) are available from the National Reference Laboratory of HIV and Hepatitis, but only information on HIV is reported to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Hospital emergencies

Data on hospital emergency presentations can provide a unique insight into acute health harms related to drug use. Euro-DEN Plus uses a sentinel centre model to collect data on emergency department presentations with acute drug toxicity. While the data do not necessarily provide a nationally representative picture, as only selected sites are included from participating countries, using a number of sentinel sites in significant locations provides useful information on the types of drug involved in presentations to emergency services, and the trends at these sites. The emergency department of the University Clinic of Toxicology, Clinical campus Mother Theresa, Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, collected data over selected months in 2022.

Drug-induced deaths

The Institute of Forensic Medicine, Criminology and Medical Deontology, School of Medicine, Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, holds and maintains the special mortality register (SMR) and reports data to the EUDA on an annual basis. The reported numbers are likely an underestimation; the autopsy rates are generally low.

Responses

Treatment provision

North Macedonia does not have a national register for specialised drug treatment and data on treatment provision and clients entering treatment are not available.

Opioid agonist treatment

Provision of opioid agonist treatment (OAT) in North Macedonia is available from the healthcare system; OAT centres are distributed across the country and both methadone and buprenorphine are available.

Harm reduction provision

North Macedonia has a nationwide network of harm reduction providers. Data reported to the EUDA cover the sterile syringes distributed by low-threshold facilities free of charge.

Drug markets and crime

Drug law offences

This security indicator collects information on the number of offences or offenders/suspected offenders by type of offence and substance, and describes the characteristics and trends of drug law offences, criminal and non-criminal. The collection of data may be challenging since it can be collected at different stages in the criminal justice system from different sources (e.g. from initial reports submitted by the police, cases of criminal offences submitted to the prosecutor) and information systems on drug law offences and offenders vary considerably between countries, especially as regards recording procedures, definitions and statistical units.

Drug seizures

This security indicator describes the characteristics and trends of drug seizures in order to improve our understanding of drug markets and supply-reduction activities. Data on drug seizures relate to all seizures during the year by all law enforcement agencies, mainly police and customs. All trend data, though, are subject to extraneous influences, such as changes in legislation, changes in police practices. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the only authority responsible for collecting and providing information on drug seizures, and there are no cases of double-counting between various agencies.

Purity/potency

This security indicator collects drug purity/potency data for some illicit substances including cannabis products, opioids and stimulants. The potency of cannabis products is defined as the delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, where THC is the primary psychoactive constituent in cannabis. It is expressed in percent of THC. The laboratories and forensic science institutes undertaking quantitative drug determinations for law enforcement are the primary source of information. These facilities collect and register drug purity/potency data and related information.

North Macedonia did not report data on drug purity/potency.

Drug prices

This security indicator collects data on the prices of all types of drugs at retail, middle-market and wholesale levels. Street prices of cannabis, heroin, cocaine and amphetamine are provided in euro per gram, LSD in euro per unit/dose and MDMA/ecstasy in euro per tablet. Data on prices come from a range of different sources, the comparability of which is not always known.

Links to other sources of information

Relevant EMCDDA/EUDA publications

• EMCDDA trendspotter briefing – Illicit drug markets and supply in the Western Balkans: Impact of COVID-19
• EMCDDA trendspotter briefing: Impact of COVID-19 on drug use and drug services in Western Balkans
• Drug treatment systems in the Western Balkans: outcomes of a joint EMCDDA-UNODC survey of drug treatment facilities
• Drug use and its consequences in the Western Balkans 2006–14
• Drug-related health and security threats in the Western Balkans

External data sources

• ECDC: HIV/AIDS surveillance in Europe 2023, 2022 data 
• dataUNODC: UNODC data on several topics, including drugs trafficking and production and drug use and treatment
• National drug situation overview 2022 North Macedonia 
• UNODC Drugs Monitoring Platform: data on drug trafficking trends and on individual drugs seizures (IDS) dataset, which contains information on singular interception or apprehension

Source data

The data used to generate the infographics and charts on this page may be found below (CSV format). Additional information, metadata and methodological notes may be found in the IPA country data sheets background tables and source data entry in our Data catalogue.

Show source tables