1995 Edition

Area

total area: 28,750 sq km land area: 27,400 sq km comparative area: slightly larger than Maryland

Climate

mild temperate; cool, cloudy, wet winters; hot, clear, dry summers; interior is cooler and wetter

Coastline

362 km

Environment

current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution from industrial and domestic effluents natural hazards: destructive earthquakes; tsunami occur along southwestern coast international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change

International disputes

the Albanian Government supports protection of the rights of ethnic Albanians outside of its borders; Albanian majority in Kosovo seeks independence from Serbian Republic; Albanians in Macedonia claim discrimination in education, access to public sector jobs and representation in government; Albania is involved in a bilaterlal dispute with Greece over border demarcation, the treatment of Albania's ethnic Greek minority, and migrant Albanian workers in Greece

Irrigated land

4,230 sq km (1989)

Land boundaries

total 720 km, Greece 282 km, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 151 km, Serbia and Montenegro 287 km (114 km with Serbia, 173 km with Montenegro)

Land use

arable land: 21% permanent crops: 4% meadows and pastures: 15% forest and woodland: 38% other: 22%

Location

Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea, between Greece and Serbia and Montenegro

Map references

Ethnic Groups in Eastern Europe, Europe

Maritime claims

continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation territorial sea: 12 nm

Natural resources

petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, timber, nickel

Note

strategic location along Strait of Otranto (links Adriatic Sea to Ionian Sea and Mediterranean Sea)

Terrain

mostly mountains and hills; small plains along coast

Age structure

0-14 years: 32% (female 520,186; male 563,953) 15-64 years: 62% (female 1,026,321; male 1,104,371) 65 years and over: 6% (female 112,252; male 86,821) (July 1995 est.)

Birth rate

21.7 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate

5.22 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Ethnic divisions

Albanian 95%, Greeks 3%, other 2% (Vlachs, Gypsies, Serbs, and Bulgarians) (1989 est.)

Infant mortality rate

28.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Labor force

1.5 million (1987) by occupation: agriculture 60%, industry and commerce 40% (1986)

Languages

Albanian (Tosk is the official dialect), Greek

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 73.81 years male: 70.83 years female: 77.02 years (1995 est.)

Literacy

age 9 and over can read and write (1955) total population: 72% male: 80% female: 63%

Nationality

noun: Albanian(s) adjective: Albanian

Net migration rate

-4.88 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Population

3,413,904 (July 1995 est.) note: IMF, working with Albanian government figures, estimates the population at 3,120,000 in 1993 and that the population has fallen since 1990

Population growth rate

1.16% (1995 est.)

Religions

Muslim 70%, Albanian Orthodox 20%, Roman Catholic 10% note: all mosques and churches were closed in 1967 and religious observances prohibited; in November 1990, Albania began allowing private religious practice

Total fertility rate

2.71 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Administrative divisions

26 districts (rrethe, singular - rreth); Berat, Dibre, Durres, Elbasan, Fier, Gjirokaster, Gramsh, Kolonje, Korce, Kruje, Kukes, Lezhe, Librazhd, Lushnje, Mat, Mirdite, Permet, Pogradec, Puke, Sarande, Shkoder, Skrapar, Tepelene, Tirane, Tropoje, Vlore

Capital

Tirane

Constitution

an interim basic law was approved by the People's Assembly on 29 April 1991; a draft constitution was rejected by popular referendum in the fall of 1994 and a new draft is pending

Digraph

AL

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Lublin Hasan DILJA chancery: Suite 1010, 1511 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005 telephone: [1] (202) 223-4942, 8187

Executive branch

chief of state: President of the Republic Sali BERISHA (since 9 April 1992) head of government: Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers Aleksander Gabriel MEKSI (since 10 April 1992) cabinet: Council of Ministers; appointed by the president

FAX

[1] (202) 628-7342

[355] (42) 322-22

Flag

red with a black two-headed eagle in the center

Independence

28 November 1912 (from Ottoman Empire)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court

Legal system

has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

unicameral

Member of

BSEC, CCC, CE (guest), EBRD, ECE, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NACC, OIC, OSCE, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Names

conventional long form: Republic of Albania conventional short form: Albania local long form: Republika e Shqiperise local short form: Shqiperia former: People's Socialist Republic of Albania

National holiday

Independence Day, 28 November (1912)

People's Assembly (Kuvendi Popullor)

elections last held 22 March 1992; results - DP 62.29%, ASP 25.57%, SDP 4.33%, RP 3.15%, UHP 2.92%, other 1.74%; seats - (140 total) DP 92, ASP 38, SDP 7, RP 1, UHP 2 note: 6 members of the Democratic Party defected making the present seating in the Assembly DP 86, ASP 38, SDP 7, DAP 6, RP 1, UHP 2

Political parties and leaders

there are at least 28 political parties; most prominent are the Albanian Socialist Party (ASP; formerly the Albania Workers Party), Fatos NANO, first secretary; Democratic Party (DP); Albanian Republican Party (RP), Sabri GODO; Omonia (Greek minority party), Sotir QIRJAZATI, first secretary; Social Democratic Party (SDP), Skender GJINUSHI; Democratic Alliance Party (DAP), Neritan CEKA, chairman; Unity for Human Rights Party (UHP), Vasil MELO, chairman; Ecology Party (EP), Namik HOTI, chairman

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Type

emerging democracy

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission: Ambassador Joseph E. LAKE embassy: Rruga E. Elbansanit 103, Tirane mailing address: PSC 59, Box 100 (A), APO AE 09624 telephone: [355] (42) 328-75, 335-20

Agriculture

accounts for 55% of GDP; arable land per capita among lowest in Europe; 80% of arable land now in private hands; 60% of the work force engaged in farming; produces wide range of temperate-zone crops and livestock

Budget

revenues: $1.1 billion expenditures: $1.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $70 million (1991 est.)

Currency

1 lek (L) = 100 qintars

Economic aid

recipient: $303 million (1993)

Electricity

capacity: 770,000 kW production: 4 billion kWh consumption per capita: 1,200 kWh (1994)

Exchange rates

leke (L) per US$1 - 100 (January 1995), 99 (January 1994), 97 (January 1993), 50 (January 1992), 25 (September 1991)

Exports

$112 million (f.o.b., 1993) commodities: asphalt, metals and metallic ores, electricity, crude oil, vegetables, fruits, tobacco partners: Italy, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary

External debt

$920 million (1994 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Illicit drugs

transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route and cocaine from South America destined for Western Europe; limited opium production

Imports

$621 million (f.o.b., 1993) commodities: machinery, consumer goods, grains partners: Italy, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece

Industrial production

growth rate -10% (1993 est.); accounts for 16% of GDP (1993 est.)

Industries

food processing, textiles and clothing, lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

16% (1994)

National product

GDP - purchasing power parity - $3.8 billion (1994 est.)

National product per capita

$1,110 (1994 est.)

National product real growth rate

11% (1994 est.)

Overview

An extremely poor country by European standards, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more open-market economy. The economy rebounded in 1993-94 after a severe depression accompanying the collapse of the previous centrally planned system in 1990 and 1991. Stabilization policies - including a strict monetary policy, public sector layoffs, and reduced social services - have improved the government's fiscal situation and reduced inflation. The recovery was spurred by the remittances of some 20% of the population which works abroad, mostly in Greece and Italy. These remittances supplement GDP and help offset the large foreign trade deficit. Foreign assistance and humanitarian aid also supported the recovery. Most agricultural land was privatized in 1992, substantially improving peasant incomes. Albania's limited industrial sector, now less than one-sixth of GDP, continued to decline in 1994. A sharp fall in chromium prices reduced hard currency receipts from the mining sector. Large segments of the population, especially those living in urban areas, continue to depend on humanitarian aid to meet basic food requirements. Unemployment remains a severe problem accounting for approximately one-fifth of the work force. Growth is expected to continue in 1995, but could falter if Albania becomes involved in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, workers' remittances from Greece are reduced, or foreign assistance declines.

Unemployment rate

18% (1994 est.)

Radio

broadcast stations: AM 17, FM 1, shortwave 0 radios: 515,000 (1987 est.)

Telephone system

about 55,000 telephones; about 15 telephones/1,000 persons local: primitive; about 11,000 telephones in Tirane, the capital city intercity: obsolete wire system; no longer provides a telephone for every village; in 1992, following the fall of the communist government, peasants cut the wire to about 1,000 villages and used it to build fences international: inadequate; carried through the Tirane exchange and transmitted through Italy on 240 microwave radio relay circuits and through Greece on 150 microwave radio relay circuits

Television

broadcast stations: 9 televisions: 255,000 (1987 est.)

Airports

total: 11 with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 2 with unpaved runways over 3,047 m: 2 with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 1 with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 2

Highways

total: 18,450 km paved: 17,450 km unpaved: earth 1,000 km (1991)

Inland waterways

43 km plus Albanian sections of Lake Scutari, Lake Ohrid, and Lake Prespa (1990)

Merchant marine

total: 11 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 52,967 GRT/76,887 DWT

Pipelines

crude oil 145 km; petroleum products 55 km; natural gas 64 km (1991)

Ports

Durres, Sarande, Shergjin, Vlore

Railroads

total: 543 km line connecting Podgorica (Serbia and Montenegro) and Shkoder completed August 1986 standard gauge: 509 km 1.435-m gauge narrow gauge: 34 km 0.950-m gauge (1990)

Branches

Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces, Interior Ministry Troops, Border Guards

Defense expenditures

330 million leke, NA% of GNP (1993); note - conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results ________________________________________________________________________ ALGERIA

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 919,085; males fit for military service 755,574; males reach military age (19) annually 33,323 (1995 est.)