More than 90 percent of those who voted approved changing the name to "North Macedonia", but Sunday's referendum was marred by a low turnout, with only a third of the electorate casting ballots.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini and enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn urged the Macedonian parliament to proceed to constitutional changes needed to clear the way for the country to join the EU and NATO.

And NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg joined Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, in celebrating "a historic opportunity for the country to join the transatlantic and European community as an equal member.

"This would change the life of the people of the country and that of their children for the better. In yesterday's consultative referendum, an overwhelming majority of those voting supported that path," they said in a joint statement.

"It is now in the hands of politicians in Skopje to decide on the way forward. The decisions they take in the next days and weeks will determine the fate of their country and their people for many generations to come. We encourage them to seize this historic opportunity."

The ballot was closely watched by Greece, which said it "remains committed" to its June agreement with Skopje under which Athens would drop its objections to Macedonia joining the EU and NATO in return for the change of name.

The non-binding referendum on renaming Macedonia needs to be ratified in parliament by a two-thirds majority and also given the stamp of approval by the Greek parliament.

The Russian foreign ministry on Monday said the low turnout in the referendum "unequivocally shows that Macedonian voters preferred to boycott the decisions roughly forced upon Skopje and Athens".