he traditional pattern of a highly dispersed
population, the country remains predominantly rural. About two-thirds
live in villages and in the countryside. Urban population increased from
about one-fifth to one-third of the total during the 1950-70 period and
would have increased to a greater extent had the government not taken
measures, beginning in the mid-1960s, to build up agriculture and to
restrict city growth. During the drive to reduce the number of people
involved in administration and to increase production forces in the
mid-1960s, thousands of persons living in the city, including some from
the bureaucracy and the Party, were sent to the country.

Housing in the cities was greatly overcrowded, and the allocation of new
dwellings built by state funds and controlled by the government provided
further restrictions on city growth. Indications were that the expansion
of industry would continue to require urban growth but that the rate of
growth would be controlled. The largest cities and their populations in
1967 were: Tirana, 170,603; Durres, 80,066; Vlore, 57,745; Korce,
53,563; and Shkoder, 49,095.

The birth rate declined only slightly from 1950 to 1970 and in 1968 was
35.5 per 1,000 population (see table 3). Fertility continued at a high
level, and there were no apparent influences that tended to reduce the
prevailing rate of births. No information was published concerning the
effects, if any, on the birth rate of women's employment outside the
home, abortions, contraceptives, or other restraints on population
growth.

The expansion of medical services and improvement in the standard of
health during the 1950s and 1960s resulted in a marked decline in the
mortality rate, from 14 per 1,000 in 1950 to 8 per 1,000 in 1968. The
age structure of the population, with a preponderance in the lower age
brackets, provided the potential for a continuing low mortality rate.

A concomitant of the reduced death rate was an increase in life
expectancy. Data from domestic sources indicated that the average life
expectancy at birth increased from 53.5 years in 1950 to 66.1 years in
1965.

Because of the highly restrictive policies of the Communist regime,
migration into and out of the country had a negligible influence on the
size and composition of the population. Internal migration was
controlled by requiring approval for persons to move from one location
to another. Specific data on the scale and character of populati