List of rivers of North Macedonia facts for kids

Map of North Macedonia with main rivers.

Drainage basins in North Macedonia.
Aegean Sea:      Vardar      Struma
Adriatic Sea:      Ohrid Lake & Drin      Prespa Lake
Black Sea:      Danube

North Macedonia is a country in Europe with many rivers. These rivers are super important! They provide water for people, animals, and farms. They also help shape the land. This article will tell you about the main rivers in North Macedonia and where their waters end up.

Rivers of North Macedonia

Rivers in North Macedonia flow into three different seas. This depends on which drainage basin they belong to. A drainage basin is like a giant funnel. It's an area of land where all the water from rain and snowmelt flows into one main river. That river then carries the water to a lake or the sea.

Rivers Flowing to the Aegean Sea

Most of North Macedonia's rivers flow into the Aegean Sea. This is because the land slopes towards the south and east.

• The Vardar is the longest and most important river in North Macedonia. It flows for about 388 kilometers (241 miles). Many other rivers join the Vardar before it reaches the Aegean Sea in Greece.
  • Some of the Vardar's main helper rivers (called tributaries) are:
    • The Treska River
    • The Lepenac River
    • The Pčinja River, which itself has the Kriva Reka and Kumanovska Reka joining it.
    • The Bregalnica River, another big one, with rivers like the Zrnovska Reka and Lakavica flowing into it.
    • The Crna Reka (meaning 'Black River'), which is also very important. It gets water from rivers like the Šemnica and Dragor.
• The Struma River also collects water from a small part of North Macedonia, even though most of it flows through Bulgaria.
  • Rivers like the Lebnica and Strumica (which has the Stara Reka joining it) flow into the Struma.

Rivers Flowing to the Adriatic Sea

A smaller part of North Macedonia's rivers flow west towards the Adriatic Sea.

• The Drim River, which mainly flows through Albania, gets water from North Macedonia.
  • The Black Drin is a major river in North Macedonia that joins the Drim. It starts from Lake Ohrid.
    • Important rivers that flow into the Black Drin include the Sateska and the Radika River. The Radika itself has smaller rivers like the Derven and Ribnička joining it.

Rivers Flowing to the Black Sea

Only a tiny part of North Macedonia's water ends up in the Black Sea.

• This happens through the Binačka Morava river. It's a small river in North Macedonia that eventually flows into the Južna Morava in Serbia, which then joins the Danube River. The Danube is one of Europe's biggest rivers and it empties into the Black Sea.

How Big Are the River Basins?

Here's a quick look at how much land each drainage basin covers in North Macedonia: