ALBANIA

@Albania:Geography

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

 Map references: Ethnic Groups in Eastern Europe, Europe

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ALBANIA - MAJOR CITIES 
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                                        Latitude,      Internat'l     Time   
                        Population      Longitude      Phone Code     Zone   
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
TIRANE                     226,000    41.20N, 19.49E     355-        GMT+1   
Durres                      79,000    41.18N, 19.28E     355-        GMT+1   
Elbasan                     78,000    41.07N, 20.05E     355-        GMT+1   
Shkoder                     76,000    42.03N, 19.01E     355-        GMT+1   
Vlore                       68,000    40.29N, 19.29E     355-        GMT+1   
Korce                       62,000    40.38N, 20.44E     355-        GMT+1   
Berat                       41,000    40.43N, 19.46E     355-        GMT+1   
Fier                        40,000    40.43N, 19.33E     355-        GMT+1   
Lushnje                     27,000    40.55N, 19.41E     355-        GMT+1   
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 Area:
 total area: 28,750 sq km
 land area: 27,400 sq km
 comparative area: slightly larger than Maryland

 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)

 Coastline: 362 km

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

 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

 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 sq km (1989)

 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

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

@Albania:People

 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

 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.)

 Population growth rate: 1.16% (1995 est.)

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

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

 Net migration rate: -4.88 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

 Infant mortality rate: 28.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

 Life expectancy at birth:
 total population: 73.81 years
 male: 70.83 years
 female: 77.02 years (1995 est.)

 Total fertility rate: 2.71 children born/woman (1995 est.)

 Nationality:
 noun: Albanian(s)
 adjective: Albanian

 Ethnic divisions: Albanian 95%, Greeks 3%, other 2% (Vlachs, Gypsies,
 Serbs, and Bulgarians) (1989 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

 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: emerging 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,
 Pogradec, Puke, Sarande, Shkoder, Skrapar, Tepelene, Tirane, Tropoje,
 Vlore

 Independence: 28 November 1912 (from Ottoman Empire)

 National holiday: Independence Day, 28 November (1912)

 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

 Legal system: has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

 Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory

 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

 Legislative branch: unicameral
 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

 Judicial branch: Supreme Court

 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

 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

 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
 FAX: [1] (202) 628-7342

 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
 FAX: [355] (42) 322-22

 Flag: red with a black two-headed eagle in the center

@Albania:Economy

 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.

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

 National product real growth rate: 11% (1994 est.)

 National product per capita: $1,110 (1994 est.)

 Inflation rate (consumer prices): 16% (1994)

 Unemployment rate: 18% (1994 est.)

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

 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

 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

 External debt: $920 million (1994 est.)

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

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

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

 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

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

 Economic aid:
 recipient: $303 million (1993)

 Currency: 1 lek (L) = 100 qintars

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

 Fiscal year: calendar year

@Albania:Transportation

 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)

 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)

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

 Ports: Durres, Sarande, Shergjin, Vlore

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

 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

@Albania:Communications

 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

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

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

@Albania:Defense Forces

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

 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.)

 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