Macedonia (/ˌmæsɪˈdoʊniə/; Greek: Μακεδονία, romanized: Makedonía [maceðoˈni.a]) is a geographic and former administrative region of Greece, in the southern Balkans. Macedonia is the largest and second-most-populous Greek geographic region, with a population of 2.36 million in 2020. It is highly mountainous, with most major urban centres such as Thessaloniki and Kavala being concentrated on its southern coastline. Together with Thrace, and sometimes also Thessaly and Epirus, it is part of Northern Greece. Greek Macedonia encompasses entirely the southern part of the wider region of Macedonia, making up 51% of the total area of that region. Additionally, it forms part of Greece's borders with three countries: Bulgaria to the northeast, North Macedonia to the north, and Albania to the