| Gorna Banjica | |
| Native Name: | Горна Бањица Banjicë e Epërme Yukarı Banisa |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Pushpin Map: | North Macedonia |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within North Macedonia |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Polog |
| Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name2: | Gostivar |
| Population As Of: | 2002 |
| Population Total: | 4423 |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Coordinates: | 41.7833°N 74°W |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Website: | . |
| Blank Name: | Car plates |
| Blank Info: | GV |
Gorna Banjica (Macedonian: Горна Бањица, Turkish: Yukarı Banisa, Albanian: Banjicë e Epërme) is a village in the municipality of Gostivar, North Macedonia.
According to the 1467-68 Ottoman defter, the village had 17 houses, with the inhabitants having a mixed Slavic-Albanian anthroponymy - usually a Slavic first name and an Albanian last name or last names with Albanian patronyms and Slavic suffixes, (e.g Nikolla Arbanas (t.Arnaut); Progon, son of Tanush; Jovan, son of Prenk).[1]
A policy of Turkification of the Albanian population was employed by the Yugoslav authorities in cooperation with the Turkish government, stretching the period of 1948-1959. Starting in 1948, Turkish schools were opened in areas with large Albanian majorities, such as Gorna Banjica.[2]
According to the 1942 Albanian census, Gorna Banjica was inhabited by 854 Muslim Albanians, 35 Serbs and 11 Bulgarians.[3]
The Yugoslav census of 1953 recorded 1,072 people of whom 754 were Albanians, 240 Turks, 73 Macedonians and 5 others. The 1961 Yugoslav census recorded 1,108 people of whom 212 were Albanians, 827 Turks, 68 Macedonians and 1 others. The 1971 census recorded 1,267 people of whom 239 were Albanians, 1,003 Turks and 25 Macedonians. The 1981 Yugoslav census recorded 1,611 people of whom 474 were Albanians, 7 Macedonians, 1,118 Turks, 1 Bosniak and 11 others. The Macedonian census of 1994 recorded 1,622 people of whom 422 were Albanians, 1,239 Turks and 1 other.[4]
According to the 2002 census, the village had a total of 4,423 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the village include:[5]
As of the 2021 census, Gorna Banjica had 3,436 residents with the following ethnic composition:[6]