North Macedonia

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Results are from an analysis of the 2018-19 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 6 (MICS6). Information on methodology is in the main text of the report and in the methods briefs.

Key indicators on the deprivations and wellbeing experienced by women with and without functional difficulties are presented in Table 1. Table 1 begins with information on the multidimensional poverty headcount—the rate of women deprived in more than one dimension in the areas of education, health, and standard of living. Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty have a multidimensional poverty headcount of 27% compared to 8% for women with some functional difficulty and 2% for women with no difficulty.

Table 1_North Macedonia: Key indicators for women age 18 to 49 by functional difficulty status (% and percentage points)

Indicator No
Difficulty
Some
Difficulty
Difference
between no
difficulty and
some difficulty
At least a
lot of
difficulty
Difference
between no
difficulty and at
least a lot of
difficulty
Multidimensional poverty headcount 2 8 -6*** 27 -25***
Less than primary school 2 8 -6*** 24 -22***
Owns a mobile phone
Safely managed drinking water 100 100 0 100 0**
Safely managed sanitation 96 94 2** 84 12**
Clean fuel 81 69 13*** 52 29***
Electricity 100 100 0 100 0**
Adequate housing 90 87 3 88 1
Owns assets 70 64 6*** 53 17***
Having felt discriminated against or harassed 11 14 -3 26 -16**
Happiness: very or somewhat happy 92 86 6*** 63 29***

Notes: *, **, and *** indicate that the difference is statistically significant at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively. ‘-‘ indicates not available. Numbers in the difference columns are in percentage points while all other numbers in the table are percentages. The share of women having felt discriminated against or harassed is on the basis of any ground.

Source: North Macedonia 2018-19 MICS6, own calculations

Education

The share of women ages 18 to 49 who have less than primary school as their highest level of schooling attained is significantly higher among women with at least a lot of functional difficulty (24%) and women with some difficulty (8%) compared to women with no difficulty (2%). This boils down to gaps of 22 percentage points (p.p.) between women with at least a lot of difficulty and no difficulty and six p.p. between women with some functional difficulty and no difficulty.

Health

Differences across functional difficulty status are very small (at zero p.p.) for safely managed drinking water. There are significant differences in terms of the shares of individuals with access to safely managed sanitation, with lower rates for women with some difficulty and even lower rates for women with at least a lot of difficulty.

Standard of Living

There are significant differences in terms of the shares of individuals with clean fuel and asset ownership, with lower rates for women with some difficulty and even lower rates for women with at least a lot of difficulty. Rates of access to electricity and adequate housing are similar for the different functional difficulty groups.

Insecurity

Women with some difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty are more likely to report feeling discriminated against or harassed based on any ground, at rates of 14% and 26% compared to 11% of women with no difficulty.

Subjective Wellbeing

Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty are significantly less likely to report feeling very or somewhat happy than women with no difficulty, at 63% and 92%, respectively. At 86%, women with some difficulty also have lower rates of happiness compared to women with no difficulty.

More results for North Macedonia are available in Results Tables on the DDI website.