North Macedonia Municipalities

North Macedonia is a small, mountainous country with no coast, and almost everything in it is named for a town, a lake or a river valley. Its local government is a single tier of municipalities (opštini), set by the 2004 reorganisation that cut 123 down to 84 and trimmed to the 80 of today, so a map or quiz that predates that is the wrong one to learn from.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Statistical region: all eight, from Skopje to Vardar
In the game: 80 municipalities

Start

What you are looking at

The 80 municipalities, drawn from the 2025 boundaries. The country groups them into eight statistical regions, which are what the game lets you drill one at a time. They are not an administrative tier: they exist for planning and statistics, but they are how the municipalities are listed and how people describe where one is.

The sizes are very uneven. The ten municipalities of the capital are among the smallest on the map, packed into the Skopje valley, while Prilep and Kavadartsi, out in the south, are many times larger than the whole of the city centre.

How to place one

Start with Skopje Region. It has 17 municipalities, the most of any region, and learning where the capital's ten sit makes every neighbour easier to find.
Follow the Vardar. The river runs from Polog, through Skopje, down across Veles and Negotino to the Greek border, and the municipalities along it are one connected strip.
Use the lakes. Ohrid and Struga share one lake, and Resen holds Lake Prespa, which together fix the whole southwest corner.
Leave the east for last. East and Southeast have 21 municipalities between them, many of them similar in size and next to each other.

Every municipality, by region

Skopje Region17 municipalities: Aerodrom, Arachinovo, Butel, Centar, Chair, Chucher - Sandevo, Gazi Baba, Gjorche Petrov, Ilinden, Karposh, Kisela Voda, Petrovets, Saraj, Shuto Orizari, Sopishte, Studenichani, Zelenikovo
Polog Region9 municipalities: Bogovinje, Brvenitsa, Gostivar, Jegunovtse, Mavrovo and Rostusha, Teartse, Tetovo, Vrapchishte, Zhelino
Northeast Region6 municipalities: Kratovo, Kriva Palanka, Kumanovo, Lipkovo, Rankovtse, Staro Nagorichane
East Region11 municipalities: Berovo, Cheshinovo - Obleshevo, Delchevo, Karbintsi, Kochani, Makedonska Kamenitsa, Pehchevo, Probishtip, Shtip, Vinitsa, Zrnovtsi
Pelagonia Region9 municipalities: Bitola, Demir Hisar, Dolneni, Krivogashtani, Krushevo, Mogila, Novatsi, Prilep, Resen
Vardar Region9 municipalities: Chashka, Demir Kapija, Gradsko, Kavadartsi, Lozovo, Negotino, Rosoman, Sveti Nikole, Veles
Southwest Region9 municipalities: Centar Zhupa, Debar, Debartsa, Kichevo, Makedonski Brod, Ohrid, Plasnitsa, Struga, Vevchani
Southeast Region10 municipalities: Bogdantsi, Bosilovo, Dojran, Gevgelija, Konche, Novo Selo, Radovish, Strumitsa, Valandovo, Vasilevo

Worked examples

Prilep

The biggest of them

Prilep covers more ground than any other municipality, filling the middle of the Pelagonia plain. It is a good anchor, since Bitola, Kruševo, Kavadartsi and Makedonski Brod all touch it.

Chair

The smallest of them

Čair is the smallest municipality, a dense neighbourhood on the north side of Skopje's old town. At the size the whole country fits it is a few pixels wide, which is why the game gives it a tap area.

Ohrid

The one on the lake

Ohrid sits on the northeast shore of the lake it is named for, with Struga beside it and the Albanian border across the water.