SKOPJE -- Marko Ivanov landed in Skopje on a flight from the Netherlands on December 20 and was shocked at what confronted him.
"The moment the doors of the plane opened and I stepped out it felt difficult to breathe. And that’s outside the city,” he told RFE/RL’s Balkan Service, adding, “When you come to the city center it feels even more stifling."
The following day, the streets of North Macedonia's capital were reminiscent of the coronavirus pandemic, with many residents wearing face masks to filter out the choking smog.
A suburb of Skopje shrouded in smog and mist on December 20.
According to the World Health Organization, air pollution becomes dangerous when PM10 particles -- airborne particles smaller than 1/100th of a millimeter -- exceed 45 micrograms per cubic meter over 24 hours. In recent days, readings of more than 100 micrograms were recorded in several suburbs across Skopje.
North Macedonia is guided by its own thresholds that require measures to be taken only after more than 150 micrograms of particles are recorded over two consecutive days. When air pollution hits that limit, the authorities recommend that pregnant women, people over 60, and those with chronic asthma be exempted from work. Hours for outdoor work are also supposed to be limited to 11 a.m. to 5 p.m due to pollution levels generally being highest in the night and early morning.
A man wearing a facemask rides his bicycle in Skopje on December 20.
Despite visibly extreme levels of pollution, the office of Skopje Mayor Danela Arsovska has posted rebuttals to recent reports about air quality, saying some media outlets are falsely describing Skopje as the most polluted city in the world.
"The global monitoring service (World Air Quality Index), which shows real-time data on the level of pollution in all cities in the world, clearly shows that Skopje is not even the most polluted city in Macedonia, let alone the world," Arsovska's office said in a recent statement.
A street in Skopje photographed in December.
Lilia Cholakova Dervishova, the president of North Macedonia’s Association of Family Physicians, told RFE/RL that air pollution is having an increasing impact on “the number of cases of asthma, respiratory diseases, and noncommunicable illnesses” in the country. Dervishova recommends that people head into the mountains or the countryside where possible, or stay indoors when pollution becomes severe.
North Macedonia’s ruling party has so far blocked moves to increase the budget allocation for environmental measures.
Buildings poke through a layer of fog and air pollution in Skopje on December 21.
One bill, submitted by deputies from the Green Inter-Party Parliamentary Group to combat air pollution, was a plan to modernize heating infrastructure for hospitals, schools, and other public buildings that use fuel oil for heating. North Macedonia’s ruling majority voted against the proposal that would have used up around 0.15 percent of the state budget. Also included among the measures drafted to address pollution was a plan to reduce government use of official vehicles and tighten limits on construction projects.
The environmental activist group 02 Initiative reacted to the bill and other environmental measures being nixed by saying “the air is toxic” yet politicians shut down measures that would result in a “concrete reduction of air pollution.” The group pointed out that North Macedonia’s government had earlier committed to updating all state facilities to use clean technology for heating by 2024.
A bridge in Skopje in December.
Much of Skopje’s regular spikes in winter pollution are due to perfect storms of hearth fires, traffic, and heavy industry combining with calm weather conditions.
According to the European Environment Agency some 5,600 deaths in North Macedonia between 2017 and 2021 were attributable to air pollution.