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Albania – Introduction

Albania – Introduction

Albania – Introduction

Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeast Europe surrounded by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, Republic of Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south and southeast. It is bordered on the west by the Adriatic Sea and on the southwest by the Ionian Sea. The Strait of Otranto, which connects the Adriatic and Ionian seas, is just 72 kilometers (45 miles) away from Italy.

The Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia, and Moesia Superior included Albania’s modern territory. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe as a consequence of the Balkan Wars, Albania declared independence in 1912 and was recognized the following year. Invading the Kingdom of Albania in 1939, Italy created Greater Albania before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. A socialist People’s Republic was established the next year, led by Enver Hoxha and the Labour Party. Albania suffered tremendous social and political upheavals, as well as isolation from the rest of the world, throughout the communist era. In 1991, the Socialist Republic of Albania was dissolved and the Republic of Albania was established.

Albania is a parliamentary republic with a republican government. The population of Tirana, the country’s capital and financial and industrial hub, is over 800,000. As a consequence of free-market reforms, foreign investment has surged, notably in the building of energy and transportation infrastructure. Albania has a high HDI and provides universal health care and free elementary and secondary education to its citizens. Albania’s economy is dominated by the service sector, which is followed by the industrial sector and agriculture.

Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, and the World Trade Organization. The Energy Community, the Organization for Economic Cooperation in the Black Sea, and the Union for the Mediterranean are all founding members. It is also a candidate for membership in the European Union.

While the majority of Albanians are Muslim (55-65%), polls reveal that 35% are agnostics, 22% are atheists, 19% are Muslim, 15% are Orthodox, 8% are Catholics, and 1% are of other religions. The number of “mixed” marriages is unusually high.

Climate

Albania’s coastline faces the Adriatic and Ionian seas, its mountains are backed by the higher Balkan continent, and the whole nation lies at a latitude prone to a range of winter and summer weather patterns. The climate in the coastal lowlands is typically Mediterranean, but the climate in the highlands is Mediterranean continental. In both the lowlands and the interior, the climate varies significantly from north to south.

Winters in the lowlands are mild, with average temperatures of 7 °C (45 °F). Summer temperatures average 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit). The average annual temperature in the southern lowlands is around 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) higher. In the summer, the difference is more than 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit), whereas in the winter, it is considerably less.

Differences in elevation influence inland temperatures more than latitude or any other factor. The weather in Eastern Europe and the Balkans is governed by a continental air mass, which is responsible for low winter temperatures in the highlands. The majority of the day is marked by breezes from the north and northeast. Summer temperatures are lower on average and substantially lower at higher elevations than they are by the shore, but daily fluctuations are greater. In the interior basins and river valleys, the peak daytime temperatures are very high, while the nights are almost always frigid.

The convergence of the primary airflow from the Mediterranean Sea and the continental air mass leads, on average, in considerable precipitation. The middle uplands get the most precipitation because they often converge at the point where the topography rises. When the air above the Mediterranean rises, vertical currents occur, causing frequent thunderstorms. Numerous of these storms are accompanied by gusty winds and heavy precipitation.

Geography

The overall land area of Albania is 28,748 square kilometers (11,100 square miles). Vermosh-Konispol is situated between the latitudes of 42° and 39° North and the longitudes of 21° and 19° East (Sazan-Vernik). Along the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, the coastline of Albania spans 476 kilometers (296 miles). The western lowlands are in front of the Adriatic Sea.

Seventy percent of the country is hilly and sometimes inaccessible from the outside. The highest point, Korab, is situated in the ancient district of Dibr and is 2,764 meters tall (9,068 ft). The climate near the shore is typical of the Mediterranean region, with mild, wet winters and warm, mainly dry summers.

Depending on height, the climate of the interior varies; nonetheless, higher altitudes exceeding 1,500 m/5,000 ft are often cold and snowy in winter; freezing temperatures with snow may last into spring. Other large cities include Durres, Korc, Elbasan, Shkoder, Gjirokastr, Vlore, and Kukes, in addition to the population-dense capital of Tirana (420,000). A word may have both indefinite and definite forms in Albanian language.

Albania is home to three of the largest and deepest tectonic lakes on the Balkan Peninsula. The surface size of Lake Shkodr in the country’s northwest ranges between 370 km2 and 530 km2, with Albania controlling one-third and Montenegro the remainder. The length of the Albanian lakeshore is 57 kilometers (35 mi). Ohrid Lake is situated in the southeastern portion of the country and is shared by the Republic of Macedonia and Albania. It has a maximum depth of 289 meters with a varied flora and fauna, including various indigenous species and “living fossils.” UNESCO protects Ohrid Lake because of its ecological and historical value. Also close is Lake Butrint, a little tectonic lake. It is in Butrint National Park.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census, Albania has a population of 2,821,977 with a low fertility rate of 1.49 children per woman. After the fall of the Communist regime in 1990, Albania saw substantial migration. In Communist Albania, external migration was expressly prohibited, and internal mobility was tightly limited, therefore this was a rare event. Roughly 900,000 persons fled Albania between 1991 and 2004, with approximately 600,000 settling in Greece. Migration has a substantial influence on the demographic distribution within Albania. The population decreased significantly in the country’s northern and southern parts, while it increased in Tirana and Durre’s central regions. According to the Albanian Institute of Statistics, the population of Albania on January 1, 2015 was 2,893,005 people.

Ethnicity is a sensitive topic that is often disputed.”

Although official statistics indicate that Albania is one of the most homogeneous countries in the region (with a population of over 97% Albanians), minority groups (such as Greeks, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Roma, and Vlachs/Aromanians) have frequently contested the official data and claimed a larger share of the country’s population.

Prior to 2011, the last census that contained ethnographic data was conducted in 1989.

Albania recognizes three national minorities, Greeks, Macedonians, and Montenegrins, in addition to two cultural minorities, Aromanians and Romani. Among the other Albanian minorities are Bulgarians, Gorani, Serbs, Balkan Egyptians, Bosniaks, and Jews. In regards to the Greeks, “Estimating the number of Greeks in Albania is difficult. According to the Greek government, there are around 300,000 ethnic Greeks in Albania, however most western estimates bring the number closer to 200,000 (EEN puts the amount at a likely 100,000).” The Albanian government reports that the number is just 24,243.” According to the CIA World Factbook, the Greek minority represents 0.9% of the total population, whereas the US State Department uses 1.1% for Greeks and 0.2% for other minorities. The latter, on the other hand, questions the reliability of the figures on the Greek minority due to the boycott’s effect on the measures.

According to the 2011 census, the following ethnic affiliations were declared by Albanians: Greeks 24,243 (0.9 percent), Macedonians 5,512 (0.2 percent), Montenegrins 366 (0.01 percent), Aromanians 8,266 (0.30 percent), Romani 8,301 (0.3 percent), Balkan Egyptians 3,368 (0.1 percent), other ethnicities 2,644 (0.1 percent), no declared ethnicity 390,938 (14.0 percent), and irrelevant 44,144 make up 82.6%, 9.1%, 0.9%, 0.1%, and 0.1%, respectively, of the total population of (1.6 percent ).

Macedonian and Greek minority groups have vehemently criticized Article 20 of the Census law, which stipulates that anybody who reports a different ethnicity than what is recorded on their birth certificate may be fined $1,000. This is reportedly an attempt to intimidate minorities into claiming Albanian nationality; the Albanian government has threatened to arrest anybody who does not participate in the census or refuses to declare his or her ethnicity. The minister in charge, Genc Pollo, has stated: “Albanians would be permitted to publicly display their racial, religious, and linguistic identities, as well as their home tongue. However, they are not required to answer to these sensitive queries “.. The contentious reforms do not include imprisonment or required statements of race or religion; just a fine that may be reversed in court is suggested.

Albanian Greeks are represented in the Albanian parliament, and the government has urged them to register as the only way to improve their circumstances. Nationalists, various academic organizations, and political parties in Albania, on the other hand, have expressed concern that the census would be used by Greece to undermine Albania’s territorial integrity by inflating the number of Greek minorities.

Religion

According to the 2011 census, Islam is followed by 58.79 percent of Albanians, making it the country’s major religion; Christianity is practiced by 17.06 percent of the population, while the remaining 24.29 percent are either non-religious, belong to other religious organizations, or are ‘undeclared.’ The Albanian Orthodox church and the Bektashi Sufi order both refused to recognize the religious census results from 2011, claiming that 24 percent of the population is Albanian Orthodox Christians rather than 6.75 percent. Prior to World War II, the country’s population was 70% Muslim, 20% Eastern Orthodox, and 10% Roman Catholic. According to a 2010 research, religion is important in the lives of just 39% of Albanians today, making Albania one of the least religious countries in the world. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2012, 65 percent of Albanian Muslims are non-denominational.

The Albanians first appear in Byzantine documents from the late 11th century. At this point, they had already been fully Christianized. Islam came in what is now Albania for the first time in the 9th century. It gradually became the majority religion throughout the Ottoman period, although a significant Christian minority survived. Following Albania’s independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912, the republican, monarchical, and later Communist regimes pursued a deliberate policy of separating religion from official responsibilities and cultural life. Albania has never had an official state religion, whether it was a republic or a monarchy. The monarchy undermined the clergy of all faiths in the twentieth century, ultimately eliminating them in the 1950s and 1960s as part of the declared objective of erasing all organized religion from Albanian territory.

Following World War II, Albania’s Communist government harassed and suppressed religious practice and institutions, thereby outlawing religion to the point that Albania was declared the world’s first atheist state. Religious freedom has returned to Albania after the regime’s demise in 1992. Albania joined the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 1992, after the fall of the communist dictatorship, but will not attend the 2014 conference due to a dispute over the fact that its membership was never acknowledged by the country’s parliament. Albanian Muslim populations (mainly secular and Sunni) may be found all throughout the country, whereas Albanian Orthodox Christians and Bektashis live in the south and Roman Catholics in the north.

The first known Albanian Protestant, Said Toptani, traveled throughout Europe and returned to Tirana in 1853 to preach Protestantism. Ottoman authorities apprehended and imprisoned him in 1864. Congregational and later Methodist missionaries, as well as the activity of the British and Foreign Bible Society, may all be traced back to mainline evangelical Protestants.

In 1892, the Evangelical Alliance, often known as VUSh, was founded. VUSh presently has over 160 member churches from a variety of Protestant religions. VUSh organizes marches in Tirana, notably one against blood feuds in 2010. Albania’s Interconfessional Bible Society offers Bibles. In 1990, the Filipaj translation became the first full Albanian Bible.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Jehovah’s Witnesses all have a sizable following in Albania.

During the Holocaust, Albania was the only European country where the Jewish population rose. After the Communist regime fell apart, a large number of Albanian Jews emigrated to Israel, leaving the country with just 200 Jews.

Albania has 1119 churches and 638 mosques, according to religious community statistics from 2008. The Roman Catholic ministry declared 694 Catholic churches. In the Christian Orthodox community, there are 425 Orthodox churches. There are 568 mosques and 70 Bektashi tekkes in the Muslim community.

Economy

Albania has made a generally successful transition from a communist centrally planned economy to a capitalist mixed economy. “Formal non-agricultural employment in the private sector more than doubled between 1999 and 2013,” according to the World Bank, with foreign investment accounting for a substantial part of this expansion.

In 2012, Albania’s GDP per capita (measured in purchasing power parity) was 30% of the EU average, while AIC (Actual Individual Consumption) was 35%. In the first quarter of 2010, Albania, Cyprus, and Poland were the only European countries to enjoy economic growth. Albania’s economy would grow by 2.6 percent in 2010 and 3.2 percent in 2011, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Unemployment has been hovering around 15% over the last decade.

Agriculture is still the most significant industry in the country. It employs 47.8% of the population and covers 24.31 percent of the land area. Domestic agriculture items accounted for 63 percent of household expenditures and 25% of exports in 1990.

Albanian farmers are benefiting from IPA 2011 financing to improve agricultural standards as part of Albania’s EU pre-accession process. Tobacco, olives, wheat, maize, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, sugar beets, and grapes; meat, honey, dairy products, and traditional medicine; and aromatic plants, including figs (the world’s 13th largest producer) and sour cherries. Albania’s proximity to the Ionian and Adriatic oceans offers tremendous potential for the country’s underdeveloped fishing industry. Albania’s fishing business has a great potential for export earnings, according to World Bank and European Community economists, since prices in nearby Greek and Italian markets are many times higher than those in the Albanian market. Off the coasts of Albania, you may catch carp, trout, sea bream, mussels, and crabs.

Almost all of the country’s energy is generated by old hydroelectric power plants, which are becoming more inefficient as droughts get more severe. A new generation of hydroelectric projects, such as the Devoll Hydro Power Plant and the Ashta Hydro Power Plant, have seen considerable private investment. Albania and Croatia have discussed the possibility of jointly building a nuclear power plant near the Montenegrin border at Lake Shkoder, a proposal that has sparked criticism in Montenegro due to the region’s seismicity. Furthermore, Albania’s capacity to finance a project of this size with a total national budget of less than $5 billion is questioned. In February 2009, however, the Italian company Enel announced plans to build an 800 MW coal-fired power plant in Albania to diversify the country’s energy supply.

The country has considerable petroleum and natural gas reserves, and it produced 26,000 barrels of oil per day in the first quarter of 2014. (BNK-TC). The estimated natural gas production of 30 million m3 is sufficient to meet consumer demand.

Natural resources include coal, bauxite, copper, and iron ore. Albania has the largest onshore oil reserves in Europe.

Tourists are rising year after year, contributing more to Albania’s GDP. Exports increased by 300 percent between 2008 and 2014, notwithstanding their little contribution to GDP ($1,100 in exports per capita). Albania’s growth slowed in 2013, despite the fact that tourism grew fast and FDI rose as the government’s modernization program progressed.

Things To Know Before Traveling To Albania

Accommodation & Hotels

Hotels may be found all across the country, with overnight prices as low as €15. The majority of hotels in major cities are clean, and the staff speaks English and/or Italian.

Outside of big cities, hotels are less common, yet they may provide excellent value in places like Gjirokastra (e.g.: 1000 lek). If you can’t find a place to stay for any reason, the Albanians are known for their hospitality and will treat you like royalty while you’re there.

Internet, Comunication

For ALL600, you may purchase a local SIM card (Vodafone). You must supply identification (passport or ID card for EU/EFTA nationals) as well as an Albanian address. Eagle cards work well and provide excellent coverage, albeit you may need to locate a shop (as contrast to Vodafone cards, which are commonly accessible from street sellers). AlbTelecom’s mobile division, Eagle, is owned by the government. As a consequence, while calling land-based phones in Albania, Eagle cards might save you a lot of money. Be prepared for a little extra formality when acquiring one of these cards since it is a “Government” bearer. You’ll still need your passport, but you’ll also have to sign a few paperwork. The tourist pack, which includes 10GB of data and 500 national minutes and is good for 14 days, is also available through Vodafone.

Language & Phrasebook in Albania

Albanian is the country’s official language, and it is spoken by the great majority of the people. Its normal spoken and written form is a fusion of the two primary dialects, Gheg and Tosk, however it is mostly based on the Tosk dialect. Between the two languages, the Shkumbin river serves as an approximate dividing line. In locations where the Greek minority lives, a dialect of Greek is spoken that maintains elements that have been lost in mainstream contemporary Greek. Aromanian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Gorani, and Roma are some of the other languages spoken by ethnic minorities in Albania. In the Pustec Municipality in East Albania, Macedonian is the official language. According to the 2011 population census, 2,765,610 people (98.8%) identified Albanian as their first language (mother tongue is defined as the first or main language spoken at home during childhood).

The dwindling number of students in Greek minority schools has produced issues for instructors in recent years. Due to cultural and economic ties with neighboring Greece, the Greek language is spoken by a significant proportion of the population in the southern region of the nation. [307] According to a 2017 research conducted by Instat, the Albanian government statistics office, 39.9% of people aged 25 to 64 can communicate in at least one foreign language, with English ranking highest at 40.0 percent, followed by Italian at 27.8%, and Greek at 22.9 percent. After 2000, English, German, and Turkish have witnessed increased interest among young people aged 25 and under. Italian and French interest has remained steady, although Greek interest has declined significantly. Cultural and economic factors influence the patterns.

Greek is the second most widely spoken language in the country, with 0.5 to 3% of the population speaking it as a first language and two-thirds of mainly Albanian families having at least one member who speaks Greek, with the majority of people learning it in the post-communist era (1992–present) through private schools or migration to Greece. During the communist period, the teaching of Greek was prohibited outside of a tiny designated “minority region” in the south. Greek was available in over 100 private tutoring centers throughout Albania as of 2003, as well as in a private school in Tirana, the first of its sort outside of Greece.

In recent years, young people have showed an increasing interest in the German language. Some of them go to Germany to study or get other experiences. Albania and Germany have agreed to work together to enable young people in both nations better understand each other’s cultures. Interest in learning Turkish, particularly among young people, has been increasing year after year as a result of a dramatic increase in commercial links with Turkey. Young people benefit from university cultural and intellectual exchange, drawn by the economic relevance of Turkish investments and shared ideals between the two countries.

Traditions

Women kiss each other on the cheeks from the moment they meet, while men and women do not kiss on the cheek until they have known each other for a long time. If an Albanian family has a newborn, always ask to see him or her, and don’t forget to complement him or her (usually “qenka I shendetshem, me jete te gjate” or “what a sweet baby” works best). If you’re a guy or a woman with a bunch of men, don’t complement women unless they’re between the ages of 10 and 12.

If you don’t know English but do speak a language where the words “you” in casual and “you” in formal are not interchangeable, be aware that some Albanians do not use the formal form. If a journalist is a friend of the prime minister, he is sometimes addressed with “ti.” When meeting someone for the first time, however, it is preferable to address them in an informal manner, even if they will ask you to do so immediately after.

Albanian cops are known for being courteous. Foreign automobiles are often stopped by police at checkpoints, many of which are owned by returning Albanians or Kosovars who are easy candidates for extortion. When cops see you’re a foreign tourist, they’ll normally advise you to leave (usually with a “ec, ec, rruge te mbare” which can be translated as “go on, have a nice trip”). When this occurs, responding with a “Faleminderit” is highly courteous (thank you in Albanian).

Albanians, particularly during weddings, like dancing. If you’re going to a party, don’t be scared to get up and dance! You may not be familiar with the traditional dances, but make an effort to learn them.

Electricity

Officially, the voltage is 220V and the frequency is 50Hz. The outlets are either CEE-7/7 (European standard) or CEE-7/16 (non-grounded) “Europlug” kinds. Travelers from the United States and Canada should bring an adaptor if they wish to use North American electrical devices in Albania.

In Albania, power outages may happen at any time. Because almost all of Albania’s power is produced by hydro plants, this is heavily reliant on the quantity of rainfall the nation gets each year. This, however, is becoming more unusual. Other cities, with the exception of Tirana, might expect power interruptions. Although backup generators are available in many major cities and most villages, it is wise to err on the side of caution and inquire ahead of time if the location has one to prevent becoming caught in an elevator, for example.

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