Country Profiles

Tirana

Basic Country Data

Location

Albania lies in the Western part of the Balkan Peninsula and covers an area of 28,748 square kilometers. Albania is situated on a border with Montenegro and Kosovo to the North and North East, FYR Macedonia to the East, and Greece to the South.

The immediate western neighbor is Italy, lies some 82 km across the Adriatic through the straight of Otranto. The capital is Tirana. Other important cities are Durres, Shkodra, Vlora, Korça, Gjirokastra, etc.

Climate

Albania has a Mediterranean climate. Because of its mountainous character and broken relief, the climate varies throughout the country. Albania is characterized by hot dry summers, with bright sunny days and generally mild winters with abundant rainfalls. In Albanian Alps in the northern part the winters are cold and summers chilly. Normally the period from June - September period is characterized by hot and sunny weather, while from October - May the weather is cool and wet.

Population

The population of Albania was 3,145,408 persons in first January 2003, where 40% is urban. Over 500,000 Albanians have emigrated during the '90s, mostly to Greece and Italy. The demographic developments and the urbanization process are directly reflected in the decrease of household size. Today the four-member household is the most widely observed pattern. The European model of a family of two parents and two children is also becoming the Albanian model .

Language

Albanian is the official language of Albania, a branch of the Indo-European family. It is linguistically a distinct language not deriving or related to other Indo - European languages. Deriving from the Illyrian, the Albanian language has preserved its originality and through the centuries has remained uninfluenced by other languages. Albania is also spoken in Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Southern Serbia. It is known too in the northwestern part of Greece (Thesprotia). Many Albanians are proficient in Italian, English, French and some German.

Natural Resources

Albania has considerable mining resources, including chrome, copper, nickel and coal . Before 1990 Albania ranked third among large producers of chrome ores in the world. Important reserves of Albanian box-ides and phosphate rocks have not been utilized yet.

Albania has reserves of limestone estimated to amount to approximately 130 million tons of marble and stone reserves, which is a good opportunity for investment in Albania.

Oil and Gas have been extracted since 1928 with both exploration and utilization of oil source in Kucova. During this period have been utilized 12 oil sources and 5 gas ones. The initial quantities in stratification (geological reserves) of explored sources is evaluated over 400 million tons and nowadays were extracted about 40 million tons. According to the evaluation level of that time (20-30 years ago) could be extracted other 30 million tons of oil. But with the modern technology this oil level quantity extracted by these sources intend to increase highly. The natural gas extracted up to now is about 11 620 million m 3 N.

Other resources are natural resources as climate which is Mediterranean and varies throughout the country , geographical and demographical conditions which help the development of a sustainable and effective agricultural production. Albania surprises with the diversity of its landscapes, which change quickly and dramatically. The country is jeweled with plenty of beautiful inland lakes, natural lagoons, reserves, hunting grounds and SPA-s which are a great potential for the tourism sector.