7. Usage of the Mountain Areas in the Republic of Macedonia

According to the geomorphological structure of the relief in the Republic of Macedonia, mountain areas (along with the frontiers of displaced villages) cover about 47.6 % of the total area. Almost 25 % of the total number of village settlements in the country are in this territory, but only 9.5 % of the total village population recorded in 2002 in the Republic of Macedonia lives in the mountains. In the past 50 years, there has been a rapid decline of the population in mountain areas. As a result, in 2002, 47 village settlements in the mountains had been displaced, and the population density was barely 10 people per square kilometer (km²). In favor of this is that in 2002 there had been 1.2 ha arable land per person, which is double in comparison to 1961. The negative usage of farmlands was seen especially in the villages of up to 300 people, with 5.2 ha per person. These villages have mostly single-person and aged households. At the same time, although mountainous areas have conditions to develop other activities, such as mining and various types of tourism, they are not adequately used.