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Good practice Imported

Otvoreni Podatoci — North Macedonia's National Open Data Portal

North Macedonia · Skopje · See the North Macedonia profile · See the Skopje profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 88% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

North Macedonia's national open-data portal grew from a MISA-led pilot of 82 datasets across 11 institutions to over 280 datasets from 50+ public bodies at otvorenipodatoci.gov.mk, though an independent 2018 ODI case study found real usage/demand still hard to verify.

82
Datasets (pilot phase)
37
Published datasets (pilot)
45
Unpublished datasets (pilot)
11
Institutions (pilot)
280+
Datasets (mid-2020s)
50+
Institutions (mid-2020s)
Otvoreni Podatoci — North Macedonia's National Open Data Portal

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Digital Transformation (formerly Ministry of Information Society and Administration)
Period
2018–2026
Keywords
open data, digital government, transparency

Context

North Macedonia's Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MISA, later reorganised as the Ministry of Digital Transformation) piloted a national open-data portal, developed with support from civil-society partner Metamorphosis Foundation and the University of Information Science and Technology.

Objectives

The programme aimed to publish government datasets in open, machine-readable formats aligned to the EU's DCAT-AP standard, as part of North Macedonia's EU-accession harmonisation, and to grow reuse through training, workshops and hackathons.

Activities

An early pilot phase held 82 datasets (37 published, 45 unpublished) from 11 institutions. The portal was later migrated to a central platform at otvorenipodatoci.gov.mk, publishing data in CSV and JSON. The government has continued to formalise the programme through an Open Data Strategy and, as of 2025, a draft Open Data Bill.

Results

By the mid-2020s the government reports the portal hosts over 280 datasets from more than 50 public institutions, up from the 11-institution, 82-dataset pilot.

Conclusions

An independent 2018 Open Data Institute (ODI) case study was explicit that demand for the data was, at the time, difficult to verify, since most published datasets were rarely viewed or downloaded and few data requests were submitted through the portal — a caution worth carrying forward: growth in datasets published does not, by itself, demonstrate that the data is being used.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Digital Transformation (formerly Ministry of Information Society and Administration), Civil-society partner Metamorphosis Foundation, University of Information Science and Technology

Conditions for success

  • Metadata aligned to the EU's DCAT-AP standard as part of EU-accession harmonisation
  • Formal Open Data Strategy and, as of 2025, a draft Open Data Bill institutionalise the programme
  • Training, workshops and hackathons run to promote reuse

Common failure modes

  • Independent 2018 ODI case study found demand hard to verify: most published datasets were rarely viewed or downloaded and few data requests were submitted through the portal

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Replication kit

Reusable artefacts from this practice — as published by their sources.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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