Geography of Macedonia
Location: | Southeastern Europe, north of Greece |
Geographic coordinates: | 41 50 N, 22 00 E |
Map references: | Europe |
Area: | total: 25,333 sq km land: 24,856 sq km water: 477 sq km |
Area - comparative: | slightly larger than Vermont |
Land boundaries: | total: 766 km border countries: Albania 151 km, Bulgaria 148 km, Greece 246 km, Serbia 221 km |
Coastline: | 0 km (landlocked) |
Maritime claims: | none (landlocked) |
Climate: | warm, dry summers and autumns; relatively cold winters with heavy snowfall |
Terrain: | mountainous territory covered with deep basins and valleys; three large lakes, each divided by a frontier line; country bisected by the Vardar River |
Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Vardar River 50 m highest point: Golem Korab (Maja e Korabit) 2,764 m |
Natural resources: | low-grade iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, chromite, manganese, nickel, tungsten, gold, silver, asbestos, gypsum, timber, arable land |
Land use: | arable land: 22.01% permanent crops: 1.79% other: 76.2% (2005) |
Irrigated land: | 550 sq km (2003) |
Natural hazards: | high seismic risks |
Environment - current issues: | air pollution from metallurgical plants |
Environment - international agreements: | party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Geography - note: | landlocked; major transportation corridor from Western and Central Europe to Aegean Sea and Southern Europe to Western Europe |