Ethnic Croats form a small minority North Macedonia. As of 2002, there were 2,686 declared Croats living in the country . They mostly live in the capital city Skopje, the second largest city Bitola and around Lake Ohrid. In 2006, Croatian President Stjepan Mesić and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski announced that the Croats would receive national minority status in Macedonia.