Albania

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

41 00 N, 20 00 E

Europe

slightly smaller than Maryland

362 km

mild temperate; cool, cloudy, wet winters; hot, clear, dry summers; interior is cooler and wetter

mostly mountains and hills; small plains along coast

petroleum, natural gas, coal, bauxite, chromite, copper, iron ore, nickel, salt, timber, hydropower, arable land

1,907 sq km (2022)

a fairly even distribution, with somewhat higher concentrations of people in the western and central parts of the country

destructive earthquakes; tsunamis occur along southwestern coast; floods; drought

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

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

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.)

-1.06% (2025 est.)

8.71 births/1,000 population (2025 est.)

7.9 deaths/1,000 population (2025 est.)

-11.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2025 est.)

a fairly even distribution, with somewhat higher concentrations of people in the western and central parts of the country

520,000 TIRANA (capital) (2023)

26.6 years (2020 est.)

7 deaths/100,000 live births (2023 est.)

1.09 children born/woman (2025 est.)

0.52 (2025 est.)

1.88 physicians/1,000 population (2020)

2.9 beds/1,000 population (2020 est.)

21.7% (2016)

1.5% (2017 est.)

65.7% (2018 est.)

parliamentary republic

civil law system except in the northern rural areas where customary law known as the "Code of Leke" is still present

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

BSEC, CD, CE, CEI, EAPC, EBRD, EITI (compliant country), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NATO, OAS (observer), OIC, OIF, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, SELEC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHRC, UNIDO, UNOOSA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

28 November 1912 (from the Ottoman Empire)

Independence Day, 28 November (1912), also known as Flag Day

black double-headed eagle

red, black

adopted in 1998 and features the national symbol, the double-headed black eagle, in the national colors of red and black; red represents the courage and strength of the Albanian people, and the golden border represents the country’s wealth; the helmet above the eagle is modeled on the helmet of Skanderbeg, a 15th-century Albanian military hero who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire; the goat on top of the helmet represents defiance and resistance

upper-middle-income Balkan economy; EU accession candidate; growth bolstered by tourism, agriculture, mining, construction, and private consumption; fiscal consolidation through revenue collection and tax compliance enhancements to address public debt; challenges include weak governance, corruption, and high emigration rates

$27.178 billion (2024 est.)

milk, maize, tomatoes, watermelons, potatoes, wheat, grapes, onions, cucumbers/gherkins, olives (2023)

food; footwear, apparel and clothing; lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower

-0.2% (2024 est.)

1.37 million (2024 est.)

22% (2020 est.)

17.8% (of GDP) (2023 est.)

Italy 41%, Greece 10%, Germany 5%, Spain 5%, Serbia 4% (2023)

garments, footwear, electricity, crude petroleum, iron alloys (2023)

Italy 22%, China 11%, Turkey 9%, Germany 7%, Greece 6% (2023)

cars, refined petroleum, garments, packaged medicine, iron bars (2023)

over 65 TV stations, including several that broadcast nationally and are sometimes available to neighboring countries; many viewers have access to Italian and Greek TV via terrestrial reception; TV stations have begun a government-mandated conversion from analog to digital broadcast; cable TV service is available; 2 public radio networks and roughly 78 private radio stations; several international broadcasters are available (2024)

.al

ZA

3 (2025)

9 (2025)

approximately 7,500 active-duty military personnel (2025)

the military is in the process of modernizing by replacing its inventory of Soviet-era weapons with NATO standard armaments; in recent years, acquisitions have included equipment from France, Israel, Italy, Turkey and the US (2025)

18-30 for voluntary military service for men and women; conscription abolished 2010 (2025)

250 Kosovo (NATO/KFOR) (2025)

the Albanian Armed Forces (AAF) are responsible for defending the country’s independence, sovereignty, and territory, assisting with internal security, providing disaster and humanitarian relief, and participating in international peacekeeping missions; the AAF is a small, lightly armed force that has been undergoing a modernization effort to improve its ability to fulfill NATO missions; the AAF has contributed small numbers of forces to several NATO missions since Albania joined NATO in 2009, including peacekeeping/stability missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq, and multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria and Latvia; it has also contributed to EU and UN missions (2025)