What is the North Macedonia EMBG?

The EMBG (Единствен матичен број на граѓанинот — Unique Master Citizen Number) is the 13-digit national identifier assigned to every citizen and permanent resident of North Macedonia. It was inherited from the Yugoslav JMBG system introduced in 1976 and encodes the holders birth date, statistical region of registration, a serial number within that group, and a checksum digit that allows instant structural verification.

What does each part of the EMBG encode?

Positions 1-2 are the day of birth (01-31). Positions 3-4 are the month (01-12). Positions 5-7 are the last three digits of the birth year: values 500-999 decode to 1500-1999 (so 990 means 1990) and values 000-499 decode to 2000-2499 (so 005 means 2005). Positions 8-9 are the region code (41 = western, 42 = Skopje, 43 = eastern, 78 = born abroad). Positions 10-12 are the birth-order serial within the day-and-region group: odd means male, even means female. Position 13 is the checksum digit.

How is the EMBG checksum calculated?

The algorithm pairs digit positions (1 with 7, 2 with 8, 3 with 9, 4 with 10, 5 with 11, 6 with 12) and multiplies each pair sum by a descending weight from 7 down to 2. The total is reduced modulo 11, then subtracted from 11. If the result is 11 the check digit is 0; if the result is 10 the number combination is invalid and the registry never issues it; otherwise the result itself (1-9) is the check digit stored in position 13.

What region codes are valid for a North Macedonia EMBG?

North Macedonia uses four region codes in the two-digit RR field. Code 41 covers the western statistical region including Ohrid, Bitola, Gostivar, Tetovo and Debar. Code 42 covers the Skopje capital region. Code 43 covers the eastern and northeastern region including Stip, Kumanovo and Kocani. Code 78 is used for people born abroad who registered in North Macedonia. Numbers carrying other region codes are not issued by the Macedonian civil registry.

Can an EMBG pass every structural check and still be invalid?

Yes. Structural validity confirms that the digits are self-consistent, the encoded date is a real calendar date, the region code is recognised, and the checksum matches. It does not confirm that the specific number was ever issued, that it belongs to the person presenting it, or that it is currently active. Only the Ministry of Interior of North Macedonia can confirm issuance status.

Is my data kept private?

Completely. The validator is a static page and all computation happens inside your browser using JavaScript. No number, partial or full, is ever sent to a server or logged anywhere.

North Macedonia EMBG Validator

The EMBG (Македонски: Единствен матичен број на граѓанинот, romanised as Edinstven matichen broj na graganinot) is the 13-digit Unique Master Citizen Number used in North Macedonia. Every citizen and permanent resident receives one at birth or upon registration, and it appears on identity cards, passports, tax documents, health records, and any official government interaction. Despite the country’s name change in 2019, the number format and algorithm are unchanged from the Yugoslav-era JMBG (Jugoslovenski matični broj građana) specification introduced in 1976 and updated in 1981.

This tool validates a North Macedonia EMBG end-to-end — it does not just check the digit count, it runs every structural rule the civil registry enforces: digit composition, length, a genuine calendar date in positions 1-7, a recognised North Macedonian region code in positions 8-9, and the exact weighted-sum checksum in position 13. On a valid number it also decodes the birth date, the birth year from its compact three-digit encoding, the holder’s gender, and the statistical region of registration.

How it works

The 13-digit EMBG follows the layout DD MM YYY RR BBB C:

Field	Positions	Meaning
DD	1-2	Day of birth (01-31)
MM	3-4	Month of birth (01-12)
YYY	5-7	Last three digits of the birth year
RR	8-9	Statistical / political region code
BBB	10-12	Birth-order serial within the day-region group
C	13	Checksum digit

Year decoding. Because only three digits are available for the year, the standard convention is: YYY ≥ 500 → full year = 1000 + YYY; YYY below 500 → full year = 2000 + YYY. So 990 decodes to 1990 and 005 decodes to 2005. This convention is shared across all countries that use the JMBG system (North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Slovenia).

Gender from BBB. The three-digit birth-order serial is odd for males and even for females — the same convention as the Bulgarian EGN, Romanian CNP, and other ex-Yugoslav identifiers.

Checksum algorithm. The digits are grouped into six pairs: positions (1, 7), (2, 8), (3, 9), (4, 10), (5, 11), (6, 12). Each pair sum is multiplied by a weight decreasing from 7 to 2:

sum = 7×(d1+d7) + 6×(d2+d8) + 5×(d3+d9) + 4×(d4+d10) + 3×(d5+d11) + 2×(d6+d12)

The weighted sum is reduced modulo 11, then subtracted from 11 to give m:

m = 1-9 → check digit = m
m = 11 → check digit = 0 (the case where sum mod 11 = 0)
m = 10 → the combination is structurally unissuable; the registry skips it

Worked example

Take the obviously fictional EMBG 0101990410012:

Segment	Digits	Decoded
DD	01	Day 1
MM	01	January
YYY	990	1990 (990 >= 500, so 1000 + 990)
RR	41	Western North Macedonia
BBB	001	Serial 1, odd → Male
C	2	Checksum digit

Checksum verification:

Pair (d1+d7): 0+0 = 0,  weight 7 → 0
Pair (d2+d8): 1+4 = 5,  weight 6 → 30
Pair (d3+d9): 0+1 = 1,  weight 5 → 5
Pair (d4+d10): 1+0 = 1, weight 4 → 4
Pair (d5+d11): 9+0 = 9, weight 3 → 27
Pair (d6+d12): 9+1 = 10, weight 2 → 20

sum = 0 + 30 + 5 + 4 + 27 + 20 = 86
86 mod 11 = 9
m = 11 − 9 = 2  → check digit = 2  ✓

The check digit in position 13 is 2, which matches the calculation, so the EMBG is structurally valid.

Formula note

The algorithm is identical to the JMBG checksum used in all successor states of Yugoslavia. Note that the positional pairing — not a sequential weighting — is what makes it distinct from simpler Luhn-style checks. The first half of the EMBG (positions 1-6) always forms pairs with the second half (positions 7-12), and the six resulting pair sums are then weighted in descending order before summation. The one edge case to remember is that m = 10 signals a structurally impossible number rather than a simple mismatch; the registry never assigns birth-order serials that would produce this outcome.