Nikola Atanasov was born to a poor family in the village of Fotovishta, today known as Ognyanovo in Garmen Municipality, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

After the liberation of Pirin Macedonia in the Balkan Wars in 1912, Atanasov worked in the tax administration of Nevrokop, today known as Gotse Delchev.

In his memoirs, Ivan Mihaylov wrote the following about Atanasov: As a mayor of Nevrokop, he showed marvellous courage.

Today, Nevrokop has a sewage system, a water-conduit, electrical lighting, a wonderful city park, beautiful streets, modern private and public buildings, a metropolitan's palace, a city hall, a municipal pharmacy, a hospital, a public health station, a veterinary hospital, a secondary school, a big library community centre with a theatrical hall, a modern slaughterhouse... all of this was achieved by Nikola Atanasov according to his plan, and at a time, when a large mass of refugees, that fled from the occupied parts of Macedonia, had to be accommodated.

Although he was in a stretcher, he was prosecuted by the so-called People's Court, a temporary Bulgarian judiciary institution, which was active in the period between December 19, 1944 and April 1945.