Kosovo question with Serbia and Montenegro; Northern Epirus question with
Greece
Climate:
mild temperate; cool, cloudy, wet winters; hot, clear, dry summers; interior
is cooler and wetter
Terrain:
mostly mountains and hills; small plains along coast
Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, timber, nickel
Land use:
arable land:
21%
permanent crops:
4%
meadows and pastures: 15%
forest and woodland:
38%
other:
22%
Irrigated land:
4,230 km2 (1989)
Environment:
subject to destructive earthquakes; tsunami occur along southwestern coast
Note:
strategic location along Strait of Otranto (links Adriatic Sea to Ionian Sea
and Mediterranean Sea)

*Albania, People

Population:
3,333,839 (July 1993 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.21% (1993 est.)
Birth rate:
23.24 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate:
5.45 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate:
-5.67 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
31.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
73 years
male:
70.01 years
female:
76.21 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.85 children born/woman (1993 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Albanian(s)
adjective:
Albanian
Ethnic divisions:
Albanian 90%, Greeks 8%, other 2% (Vlachs, Gypsies, Serbs, and Bulgarians)
(1989 est.)
Religions:
Muslim 70%, Greek 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
Languages:
Albanian (Tosk is the official dialect), Greek
Literacy:
age 9 and over can read and write (1955)
total population:
72%
male:
80%
female:
63%
Labor force:
1.5 million (1987)
by occupation:
agriculture 60%, industry and commerce 40% (1986)

*Albania, Government

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
Digraph:
AL
Type:
nascent democracy
Capital:
Tirane
Administrative divisions:
26 districts (rrethe, singular - rreth); Berat, Dibre, Durres, Elbasan,
Fier, Gjirokaster, Gramsh, Kolonje, Korce, Kruje, Kukes, Lezhe, Librazhd,
Lushnje, Mat, Mirdite, Permet, Pograd