Why is North Macedonia considered a landlocked country?

North Macedonia is considered a landlocked country because it is an independent sovereign state that lacks direct access to an ocean or to a sea that is not landlocked.12

Located in the south-central Balkans, the country is entirely surrounded by land, sharing borders with Kosovo and Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. Although the majority of the country's territory drains into the Aegean Sea via the Vardar River and other smaller portions drain toward the Adriatic Sea, these riverine connections do not provide the direct coastal access required to be considered a maritime nation.23