5. CLIMATE: Unusually varied. Coastal lowlands have Mediterranean-type climate. Inland fluctuations common, but continental influences predominate. Annual precipitation is 40 to 100 inches according to area; highly seasonal; summer droughts common. Temperatures vary widely because of differences in elevation and the changes in prevailing Mediterranean and continental air currents.
6. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS: Twenty-six districts. Economic and social factors played important role in shaping delineations. Control and direction is from Tirana.
7. POPULATION: Estimated 2.1 million in January 1970. Growth unusually rapid; at 1970 rate, would double in twenty-six years. Two-thirds live in rural areas. Inhabitants are 97-percent ethnic Albanian. About 106 males per 100 females.
8. LABOR: In 1967 the working-age population numbered about 932,000, of which approximately 745,000 were employed. About 66.7 percent were in agriculture; 14.1 percent in industry; 5.4 percent in construction; and 13.8 percent in trade, education, health, and others.
9. LANGUAGE: Albanian spoken by everyone. Some of the 3-percent minority use tongue of country of family origin as a second language.
10. EDUCATION: Nearly all persons under age forty are literate, according to Albanian statistics. Communist ideas and principles emphasized with strict controls by centralized authority. Production of capabilities and skills required for modernization and industrialization considered to be a major goal.
11. RELIGION: Organized religion destroyed by government action in 1967. Party-directed antireligious campaign aims to eliminate religious thought and belief. Pre-World War II data indicated population to be 70-percent Muslim, 20-percent Eastern Orthodox, and 10-percent Roman Catholic.
12. HEALTH: Many diseases, but reportedly greatly reduced or eliminated. Health improved substantially after 1950, as reflected in Albanian reports. Malnutrition, poor sanitary-hygienic conditions, and lack of trained personnel are continuing problems.
13. JUSTICE: System of people's courts from national to village level; purportedly independent of administrative system but guided by Party policy. Supreme Court elected by the People's Assembly. District judges popularly elected from among Party-approved candidates. Jury system not used. Persons are subject to military law and tried in military courts.
14. ECONOMY: Government controlled. Follows planning model of Soviet Union. Per capita gross national product lowest in Europe. Lack of accessible resources, arable land, and trained work force make for slow growth.