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more about albania
albania |
2 definitions found From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: Albania n : a republic in southeastern Europe on the Adriatic coast of the Balkan Peninsula [syn: {Albania}] From The CIA World Factbook (1995) [world95]: 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 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 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
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