The Macedonian diaspora () consists of ethnic Macedonian emigrants and their descendants in countries such as Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and others. A 1964 estimate put the number of Macedonian emigrants at over 580,000.*
History
The Macedonian diaspora is the consequence of either voluntary departure or forced migration over the past 100 years. It is claimed that there were six major waves of emigration.Peter Hill, The Macedonians in Australia, Victoria Park: Hesperian Press, 1989 The Macedonian Slavic-speaking immigrants in the first half of 20th century were considered and identified as Bulgarians or Macedonian Bulgarians.Emily Greene Balch, Our Slavic fellow citizens, Charities Publication Committee, New York, 1910, p. 275.Prpic, George. South Slavic immigration in America, Boston: Twayne, 1978, p. 212-222.The Australian people: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people, and their origins, James Jupp, Cambridge University Press, 2001, , p. 573Encyclopedia of Canada's peoples Paul R. Magocsi, Multicultural History, pp. 287–292, University of Toronto Press, 1999, .The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, pp. 85–89, by Loring M. Danforth.Chris Kostov, Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996, Peter Lang, 2010, , p. 117. Many Macedonian Bulgarians came to the United States. Several immigrants identified also as Macedonians, however the designation was used then mainly regionally.Victor Roudometof, Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, , p. 109 The sense of belonging to a separate Macedonian nation gained credence after World War II, following the establishment of the People's Republic of Macedonia within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the codification of a distinct Macedonian language.Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans, Vol. 2: Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press, 1983, , pp. 320-321.
The first wave occurred after the failure of the Ilinden Uprising in 1903. Many people fled to other parts of Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Russia, the United States and Canada.
The "Pečalba" (seasonal work) tradition was common across the Macedonian region.The Pecalba Tradition in Macedonia, A Case Study, Joel and Barbara K. Halpern, University of Massachusetts Amherst, January 1975 Many people settled in the host countries. The pečalbari emigrated from the 1880s to the 1920s, mainly to Greece. Large settlements occurred in Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey and the United States.
The period from World War I to the Great Depression, when Macedonians fled Serbian rule and moved to Western Europe for industrial labor jobs, mainly in such countries as France, West Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, which was repeated in the early 1950s to late 1970s.
After World War II and the Greek Civil War, thousands of Macedonians fled, were evacuated or emigrated.The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, p. 54, by Loring M. Danforth Thousands of people fled from Greece after the failure of the DSE, the National Liberation Front and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) to win the Greek Civil War, including a number of Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia.John S. Koliopoulos. Plundered Loyalties: World War II and Civil War in Greek West Macedonia. Foreword by C. M. Woodhouse. New York: New York University Press. 1999. p. 304. 0814747302 An estimated 55,000 people were evacuated to Romania, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the rest of the Eastern Bloc.
During the 1960s, Yugoslavia lifted restrictions on emigration. Hundreds of thousands of Macedonians emigrated. Internal Yugoslav migration (Serbia) was also very prevalent, by 1991 an estimated 80,000 Macedonians were living throughout Yugoslavia. Primary destinations were Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.
After the Breakup of Yugoslavia thousands of Macedonians emigrated. Many went to Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the UK and North America.Peter Hill, The Macedonians in Australia, Victoria Park: Hesperian Press, 1989.
Number of ethnic Macedonians around the world Country Number of Ethnic Macedonians Main Article Description 1 Albania 4,697 (1989 census)"LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT AND DECENTRALIZATION: CASE OF ALBANIA. HISTORY, REFORMES AND CHALLENGES" Artan Hoxha and Alma Gurraj. – 35,000 (est.) Macedonians in Albania Although not necessarily classified as being a part of the "Macedonian diaspora", the Macedonians in Albania constitute a minority group in Albania. 2 Argentina 30,000 (est.) Macedonian Argentine Many Macedonians of Argentina are the descendants of the "pečalbari" (seasonal workers) who came to Argentina in the early 20th century. Many decided to stay in Argentina, setting up Macedonian colonies in the Pampas and other regions. Most Macedonians can be found in Buenos Aires, the Pampas and Córdoba. An estimated 30,000 Macedonians can be found in Argentina.Nasevski, Boško; Angelova, Dora. Gerovska, Dragica (1995). Македонски Иселенички Алманах '95. Skopje: Матица на Иселениците на Македонија. 3 Australia111,352 (2021 census) -200.000 (est.) Macedonian Australians The Macedonians in Australia comprise many refugees from the Greek Civil War. Although the majority are from the Republic of Macedonia having migrated to Australia from the 1960s to the early 1990s. The Republic of Macedonia claims that there are 200,000 Macedonians in Australia.Population Estimate from the MFA Demographer Charles Price puts the number of Macedonians in Australia at over 150,000 people.