The living standards there are also better than in many Macedonian villages. About thirty five or forty thousand Roma live there. Despite such advances, the majority of the Roma in Macedonia continue to have a lower standard of living than the rest of the population. Discrimination in the workplace remains common. Only a few Roma benefit from a university education and have professional trades.
Education is one of the issues most important to the Roma population in Macedonia.
However, the fact that there are three major dialects of Roma ny in Macedonia alone makes instruction in the Roma ny language logistically difficult. Despite government efforts, the Roma suffer from low levels of literacy. After republic-wide elections, a Roma member of parliament joins the ruling coalition. The Presidium of the Republican Committee for Nurturing the Ethnic and Cultural Traditions of the Roma accuses the ethnic Albanian Tetivi-based Party for Democratic Prosperity in Macedonia of persistently manipulating the Roma and using Islam as its vehicle. The leaders of the Macedonian Roma community call upon all Roma to stop identifying themselves as Albanians simply on the basis of shared religion.