There are 129 homeless Macedonians registered by several NGOs and Governmental organizations. Out of 129, 109 are in the capital Skopje as the biggest city, while the other 20 are live in various cities around the country.

According to Macedonia's Red Cross who primarily cares for these individuals, all of them refuse to be put under a roof, though do ask for medications, blankets and other things.

When it gets very cold, the Red Cross goes out and picks up the homeless and takes them to a warm building. It isn't rare in Macedonia for a homeless individual to die from the cold, though it happens frequently in the neighboring countries where the homeless numbers are much higher.

Shockingly, there are homeless who receive very nice pension benefits, however they have simply chosen to live outside, says Suzana Paunovska of the Red Cross.

Although everyone feels terribly sad when they encounter people living under a bridge, the situation in the European Union is much, much worse than in Macedonia.

The United Kingdom has 500,000 homeless citizens. 

Poland has 500,000 homeless citizens. (40,000 prior to joining the EU)

Czech Republic has 50,000 homeless citizens.

Romania has 50,000 homeless citizens (3,000 prior to joining the EU)

Greece has 125,000 homeless citizens (numbers climb on daily basis due to economic crisis)

France has 1 million homeless citizens

Spain has 300,000 homeless citizens

Germany has 860,000 homeless citizens (the size of the city of Cologne)