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