Albania Facts

Albania

The Republic of Albania

Area: 11,100 sq mi. (28,748 sq km)

Population (est. mid-1993): 3,300,000 (average annual rate of natural increase: 2.0%);
birth rate: 25/1000;
infant mortality rate: 28.3/1000;
density per square mile: 314

Capital and largest city (1989): Tirana, 238,100

Monetary unit: Lek

Language: Albanian, Greek

Religions (1980): Sunni Moslem, 70%; Roman Catholic, 10%; Orthodox, 20%

Literacy rate 75%

Economic summary: Gross national product (1991 est.): $2.7 billion; per capita, $820; real growth rate, -35%; inflation, 100%; unemployment, 40%. Arable land: 21%; labor force: 1,500,000 (1987). Principal agricultural products: wheat, corn, potatoes, sugar beets, cotton, tobacco. Labor force in industry and commerce: 40%. Major products: textiles, timber, construction materials, fuels, semi-processed minerals. Exports: $80 million (f.o.b., 1991 est.): asphalt, petroleum products, metals and metallic ores, electricity, crude oil, vegetables, fruits, and tobacco. Imports: $147 million (f.o.b., 1991 est.): machinery, machine tools, iron and steel products, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals. Major trading partners: Greece, Yugoslavia, Czech and Slovak Republics, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, France, Italy

Geography

Albania is situated on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, with Yugoslavia to the north and east and Greece to the south. Slightly larger than Maryland, it is a mountainous country, mostly over 3,000 feet (914 m) above sea level, with a narrow, marshy coastal plain crossed by several rivers. The centers of population are contained in the interior mountain plateaus and basins.

Government

A multiparty system was installed in March 1991. Elections in March 1992 gave the Democratic Party 92 of the 140 parliamentary seats, thus assuring it the two-thirds majority for enacting constitutional reform. Election of the president is by parliamentary majority.

History

Albania proclaimed its independence on Nov. 28, 1912, after a history of Roman, Byzantine, and Turkish domination.

Largely agricultural, Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe. A battlefield in World War I, after the war it became a republic in which a conservative Moslem landlord, Ahmed Zogu, proclaimed himself President in 1925, and then proclaimed himself King Zog I in a monarchy in 1928. He ruled until Italy annexed Albania in 1939. Communist guerrillas under Enver Hoxha seized power in 1944, near the end of World War II.

Hoxha was succeeded by Ramiz Alia, 59, who had been President since 1982.

The elections in March 1991 gave the Communists a decisive majority. But a general strike and street demonstrations soon forced the all-Communist cabinet to resign. In June 1991 the Communist Party of Labor renamed itself the Socialist Party and renounced its past ideology. The opposition Democratic Party won a landslide victory in 1992 elections. The Socialist Party made significant gains in local elections of July 26.