After the war, Skopje was in ruins. Most of the official buildings were restored or rebuilt, but the city experienced new plague and cholera epidemics and many inhabitants emigrated. The Ottoman Turkish Empire as a whole entered in recession and political decline. Many rebellions and pillages occurred in Macedonia during the 18th century, either led by Turkish outlaws, Janissaries or Hajduks. An estimation conducted by French officers around 1836 revealed that at that time Skopje only had around 10,000 inhabitants. It was surpassed by two other towns of present-day North Macedonia: Bitola (40,000) and Štip (15–20,000).