Country Snapshot

Country Name: Albania

Capital: Tirana

Continent: Europe

Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea, between Greece to the south and Montenegro and Kosovo to the north.

Population: 3,101,621 (2023 est.)

Background: In the early 1990s, Albania ended decades of isolated communist rule and began to establish a multiparty democracy. A large informal economy and a weak energy and transportation infrastructure remain developmental obstacles. However, Albania is emerging as a popular destination for nomad capitalists and other ex-pats due to its affordable living costs.

Government Type: Parliamentary Republic

Legal System: Civil law system except in the northern rural areas where customary law known as the "Code of Leke" is still present.

Time Zone: UTC+01:00 (DST: UTC+02:00)

Phone Country Code: 355

Internet Country Code: .al

Visa, Travel, Citizenship, & Weather Information

Official Visa & Travel Information: Republic of Albania Immigration Services (Visa Services)

Citizenship:

Citizenship By Birth: No
Citizenship By Descent Only: At least one parent must be a citizen of Albania
Dual Citizenship Recognized: Yes
Residency Requirement for Naturalization: 5 years

Economic & Currency Data

Economic Overview: Future hopeful EU member state; oil and gas exporter but investing toward a “blue economy”; COVID-19 and earthquake economic disruptions and declines; experiencing high debt and account balances; strengthening private sector growth and public sector trust.

Currency: Albanian Lek (ALL)

Reserves of Foreign Exchange & Gold: $5.635 billion (31 December 2021 est.)

Real GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $40.822 billion (2021 est.)

Real GDP Growth Rate: 8.52% (2021 est.)

Real GDP per Capita: $14,500 (2021 est.)

Exports:

$5.612 billion (2021 est.); note: data is in current year U.S. dollars and do not include illicit exports or re-exports.
Comparison Ranking: 124

Export Commodities: Leather footwear and parts, electricity, crude petroleum, iron alloys, clothing, insulated wiring, and Albanian cannabis (production remains a significant illicit trade export) (2021)

Export Partners: Italy 45%, Spain 8%, Germany 6%, Greece 5%, France 4%, China 4% (2019)

Imports:

$8.004 billion (2021 est.) note: data is in current year U.S. dollars
Comparison Ranking: 122

Import Commodities: Refined petroleum, cars, tanned hides, packaged medical supplies, and footwear parts (2019)

Import Partners: Italy 28%, Greece 12%, China 11%, Turkey 9%, Germany 5% (2019)

Natural Resources: Petroleum, natural gas, coal, bauxite, chromite, copper, iron ore, nickel, salt, timber, hydropower, and arable land.

Agricultural Products: Milk, maize, tomatoes, potatoes, watermelons, wheat, grapes, cucumbers, onions, and apples.

Industries: Food; footwear, apparel and clothing; lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower.

Industrial Production Growth Rate:

16% (2021 est.)
Comparison Ranking: 12

Labor Force: 1.378 million (2021 est.)

Labor Force By Occupation:

Agriculture: 41.4%
Industry: 18.3%
Services: 40.3% (2017 est.)

Unemployment Rate: 11.82% (2021 est.)

Demographics

This is the population pyramid for Albania. A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends.

Ethnic Groups: Albanian 82.6%, Greek 0.9%, other 1% (including Vlach, Romani, Macedonian, Montenegrin, and Egyptian), unspecified 15.5% (2011 est.)

Languages: Albanian 98.8% (official - derived from Tosk dialect), Greek 0.5%, other 0.6% (including Macedonian, Romani, Vlach, Turkish, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian), unspecified 0.1% (2011 est.)

Religions: Muslim 56.7%, Roman Catholic 10%, Orthodox 6.8%, atheist 2.5%, Bektashi (a Sufi order) 2.1%, other 5.7%, unspecified 16.2% (2011 est.)

Internet Users:

Total: 2.291 million (2021 est.)
Percentage of Population: 79% (2021 est.)

Geography & Interactive Maps

Geographic Coordinates: 41 00 N, 20 00 E

Geography:

Total: 28,748 sq km
Land: 27,398 sq km
Water: 1,350 sq km

Natural Hazards: Destructive earthquakes; tsunamis occur along southwestern coast; floods; drought.

(Country Summary, The World Factbook, CIA.gov)

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