The municipality has 35 inhabited places, one town and 34 villages. According to the 2021 North Macedonia census, this municipality has 59,770 inhabitants.[1]
Several villages were burned down in Gostivar during 1912-16 by Serbian and Bulgarian forces.[3] Two of these villages were Reč, which had a population in 1900 of 140 Muslim Albanians and 150 Orthodox Albanians, and Strezimir which at that time was inhabited by 56 Muslim Albanians and 180 Orthodox Albanians.[4] Another such example is Štirovica.
On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and Gostivar Municipality contributed humanitarian aid and teams of firefighters and doctors toward the relief effort for earthquake victims.[5]
^Osmani 2012, p. 9."Tërnica, Reçi, Boletini, Dëbova, Strezimiri, Zavojska dhe Shtirovica deri në vitin 1916 u dogjën nga serbët dhe bullgarët. [Tërnica, Reçi, Boletini, Dëbova, Strezimiri, Zavojska and Shtirovica until 1916 were burned by Serbs and Bulgarians.]"
The municipality names in italics have an Albanian population of over 50% but below 60%. Names in brackets are Albanian equivalents of the Macedonian names.
