It was named after the Vardar River and its administrative capital was the city of Skopje.

According to the 1930 statistics of the Central Press Bureau of the Ministerial Council[1] out of the 9 Yugoslav banovinas, the "Vardarska" banovina was the largest at 38,879 km2 (15,011 sq mi); while its population, was the fourth at 1,386,370 inhabitants.

On the other hand, unlike the banovinas that until the creation of Yugoslavia had belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire and the lands of Montenegro, it had inherited no debts.

According to the 1931 Constitution of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Vardar Banovina was bounded on the north by the boundaries of the Zeta and Morava Banovinas, and on the east, south and west by the State frontiers with Bulgaria, Greece, and Albania.

In 1941, the World War II Axis Powers occupied the Vardar Banovina and divided it between Bulgaria, German-occupied Serbia, and Albania under Italy.