ÿþ<html> <head> <title> Albania Introduction 2012, CIA World Factbook </title> <META NAME="Description" CONTENT="Albania Introduction 2012, CIA World Factbook"> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="Albania, Introduction, 2012, CIA, World, Factbook"> <script language="JavaScript"> function AddToFaves_hp(){ var is_4up = parseInt(navigator.appVersion); var is_mac = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf("mac")!=-1; var is_ie = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf("msie")!=-1; var thePage = location.href; if (thePage.lastIndexOf('#')!=-1) thePage = thePage.substring(0,thePage.lastIndexOf('#')); if (is_ie && is_4up && !is_mac) window.external.AddFavorite(thePage,document.title); else if (is_ie || document.images) booker_hp = window.open(thePage,'booker_','menubar,width=325,height=100,left=140,top=60'); //booker_hp.focus(); } //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); </script> <style type="text/css"> A:link { text-decoration: none; color:#000066; } A:visited { text-decoration: none; color:#000066; } A:active { text-decoration: none; color:#000066; } A:hover { text-decoration: none; color:#990033; } a { text-decoration: none} </style> </head> <body topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" bgcolor="white"> <div id="fb-root"></div> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=183601415082146"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script> <table background="http://www.theodora.com/wfb2008/images/drugsbgr.gif" width="972" align="top"><tr><td colspan="2" width="972"> <font face="arial"> | <a href="http://www.theodora.com/wfb" target="_blank">COUNTRIES</a> | <a href="http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names" target="_blank">GEOGRAPHIC NAMES</a> | <a href="http://www.theodora.com/geology" target="_blank">GEOLOGY</a> | <a href="http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/" target="_blank">USA STATS</a> | <a href="http://www.allcountries.org/china_statistics/" target="_blank">CHINA STATS</a> | <a href="http://www.geographic.org/countries/county_codes.html" target="_blank">COUNTRY CODES</a> | <a href="http://www.photius.com/wfb2001/airport_codes.html" target="_blank">AIRPORTS</a> | <a href="http://www.photius.com/religion" target="_blank">RELIGION</a> | <a href="http://www.occupationalinfo.org" target="_blank">JOBS</a> | </font></td></tr> </table> <table border="0" bgcolor="white" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="972" align="top" valign="top" hspace="0" vspace="0" units="pixels"> <tr><td colspan="2" width="972"><img src="http://www.theodora.com/wfb2008/images/line2.gif"></td></tr><tr height="90" align="left" valign="top"><td align="left" valign="top" width="244" nowrap><a href="http://www.theodora.com/wfb"><img border="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/images/countries_of_the_world_banner.gif"></a></td> <td align="left" valign="top" width="728" nowrap> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-7437757543052749"; /* WFB Leaderboard */ google_ad_slot = "7548094546"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td></tr> <tr height="3" align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="white" nowrap units="pixels"><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top" height="3" width="972" nowrap bgcolor="white" nowrap> <img src="http://www.theodora.com/wfb2008/images/line1.gif"></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2" align="middle" background="http://www.theodora.com/wfb2008/images/light_blue.gif" width="972"> <font size="-2"> <br></font> <font face="arial" size="5"><b>Albania</b> Introduction 2012</font> <br> <font size = "-2"> http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html </font> <br> <font size="-2"><B>SOURCE: 2012 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES</B></FONT></td></tr> <tr height="3" align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="white" nowrap units="pixels"> <td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top" height="3" width="972" nowrap bgcolor="white" nowrap> <img src="http://www.theodora.com/wfb2008/images/line13.gif"></td></tr></table> <table border="0" bgcolor="#FFCC99" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="972" align="left" valign="top" hspace="0" vspace="0" units="pixels"> <tr><td background="http://www.theodora.com/wfb2008/images/light_blue.gif" width="200" valign="top"> <font face="arial"> <br><br> <center> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-7437757543052749"; /* WFB Wide Skyscraper */ google_ad_slot = "0340963386"; google_ad_width = 160; google_ad_height = 600; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <br><br><br><br> <br> <a href="http://www.theodora.com/dot.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/wfb2008/images/dot_ad.gif" valign="top"></a> <hr> <br><br><br><br><br> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-7437757543052749"; /* WFB Link Unit */ google_ad_slot = "3506820389"; google_ad_width = 200; google_ad_height = 90; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <br><br><br><br> </center> </td> <td bgcolor="white" width="14"></td> <td bgcolor="white" width="558" valign="top"> <font face="arial"><br> <table><tr><td width="350"> <a href="http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/albania/" target="_blank"><b>GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES</b></a> </td><td width="300"> <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html&sl=en&tl=es&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8" target="_blank"><img border ="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/images/spanish_translate.gif" alt="Spanish"></a> <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html&sl=en&tl=zh-CN&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8" target="_blank"><img border ="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/images/chinese_translate.gif" alt="Simplified Chinese"></a> <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html&sl=en&tl=fr&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8" target="_blank"><img border ="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/images/french_translate.gif" alt="French"></a> <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html&sl=en&tl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8" target="_blank"><img border ="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/images/german_translate.gif" alt="German"></a> <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html&sl=en&tl=ru&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8" target="_blank"><img border ="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/images/russian_translate.gif" alt="Russian"></a> <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html&sl=en&tl=hi&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8" target="_blank"><img border ="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/images/hindi_translate.gif" alt="Hindi"></a> <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html&sl=en&tl=ar&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8" target="_blank"><img border ="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/images/arabic_translate.gif" alt="Arabic"></a> <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html&sl=en&tl=pt&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8" target="_blank"><img border ="0" src="http://www.theodora.com/images/portuguese_translate.gif" alt="Portuguese"></a> </td></tr></table> <HR> <br> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-7437757543052749"; /* WFB Large Rectangle */ google_ad_slot = "8137512903"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <br> Page last updated on February 23, <p><b><a href = "http://www.theodora.com/wfb/wfb2000/definitions.html#background">Background:</a></b><br> Albania declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912, but was conquered by Italy in 1939. Communist partisans took over the country in 1944. Albania allied itself first with the USSR (until 1960), and then with China (to 1978). In the early 1990s, Albania ended 46 years of xenophobic Communist rule and established a multiparty democracy. The transition has proven challenging as successive governments have tried to deal with high unemployment, widespread corruption, a dilapidated physical infrastructure, powerful organized crime networks, and combative political opponents. Albania has made progress in its democratic development since first holding multiparty elections in 1991, but deficiencies remain. International observers judged elections to be largely free and fair since the restoration of political stability following the collapse of pyramid schemes in 1997; however, there have been claims of electoral fraud in every one of Albania's post-communist elections. The 2009 general elections resulted in no single party gaining a majority of the 140 seats in Parliament, and the Movement for Socialist Integration (LSI) and the Democratic Party (DP) combined to form a coalition government, the first such in Albania's history. The Socialist Party (SP) contested the results of the 2009 parliamentary elections and the 2011 local elections. Albania joined NATO in April 2009 and is a potential candidate for EU accession. Although Albania's economy continues to grow, the country is still one of the poorest in Europe, hampered by a large informal economy and an inadequate energy and transportation infrastructure. </font> <p> <p> <BR> <P> <font size = "-2"><B> NOTE: The information regarding Albania on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Albania Introduction 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Albania Introduction 2012 should be addressed to the CIA. </B></font> </P> <br> <hr> <a href="#" onClick="AddToFaves_hp()"><img src="http://www.theodora.com/images/bookmark_banner.gif" align="left" width="176" height="52" border="0"></a><font color=brown> - Please bookmark this page (add it to your favorites). <br> - If you wish to <b>link</b> to this page, you can do so by referring to the URL address below this line.</font> <hr> http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/albania_introduction.html <br><br> This page was last modified 06-Mar-12 <br> Copyright &copy 1995-2012 <a href="http://www.theodora.com/ita.html">ITA</a> all rights reserved. <br> </td> <td width=200 valign="top" align="left" background="http://www.theodora.com/wfb2008/images/light_blue.gif"> <!-- SiteSearch Google --> <br> <form action="http://www.google.com/cse" id="cse-search-box"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-7437757543052749:i8v5yg-obf2" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="text" name="q" size="26" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> </div> </form> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&lang=en"></script> <!-- End SiteSearch Google --> <font size="2" face="arial"> <b> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.theodora.com/wfb">|Main INDEX|</a> <li><a href="../index.html">2012 INDEX</a> <li><a href="http://www.photius.com/rankings/index.html">Country Ranks</a> <li><a href="http://www.theodora.com/wfb/wfb2000/definitions.html">DEFINITIONS</a> <br><br> <a href="index.html">Albania Index 2012</a> <br><br> <a href="http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/albania/index.html">Albania Main Index</a> <li><a href="albania_introduction.html">Introduction</a> <li><a href="http://workmall.com/wfb2001/albania/albania_history_index.html">History</a> <li><a href="http://www.photius.com/countries/albania/geography/index.html">Geography</a> <li><a href="http://www.photius.com/countries/albania/climate/albania_climate_climate.html">Climate</a> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theodora.com/maps">Maps</a><br> <li><a href="http://www.photius.com/countries/albania/society/index.html">People</a><br> </b> &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.photius.com/religion">Religion</a> <b><li><a href="http://www.photius.com/countries/albania/government/index.html">Government</a><br></B> &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="albania_chiefs.html"> Gov. Leaders</a> <br>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theodora.com/flags">Flags</a> <b><br> <li><a href="http://www.photius.com/countries/albania/economy/index.html">Economy</a> <li><a href="albania_communications.html">Communications</a> <li><a href="albania_transportation.html">Transportation</a> <br></B> &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.photius.com/wfb2001/airport_codes_alpha.html">Airport Codes</a> <b> <li><a href="http://www.photius.com/countries/albania/national_security/index.html">Military</a> <li><a href="albania_issues.html">Transnational Issues</a> <li><a href="http://www.theodora.com/wfb/photos/">Photos</a> </ul> <ul><A href="http://www.theodora.com/wwwads.html" target="_blank">Advertise Here</a></ul> <ul> . <A href="http://www.theodora.com/theodora_feedback.html">Feedback</a> <br><br> <div class="fb-like" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="80" data-show-faces="false"></div> <br><br> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="none">Tweet</a> <script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script> <br><br> <g:plusone size="medium" annotation="none"></g:plusone> <br> </ul> </b> </font> </td></tr></table> </body> </html>