Page last updated on January 27, 2020
Location:
Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea, between Greece to the south and Montenegro and Kosovo to the north
Geographic coordinates:
41 00 N, 20 00 E
Map references:
Europe
Area:
total: 28,748 sq km
[see also: Area - total country ranks ]
land: 27,398 sq km
[see also: Area - land country ranks ]
water: 1,350 sq km
[see also: Area - water country ranks ]
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data):
145
Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Maryland
Area comparison map:
slightly smaller than Maryland
Land boundaries:
total: 691 km
[see also: Land boundaries - total country ranks ]
border countries (4):
Greece 212 km, Kosovo 112 km, Macedonia 181 km, Montenegro 186 km
Coastline:
362 km
[see also: Coastline country ranks ]
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12
nm
[see also: Maritime claims - territorial sea country ranks ]
continental shelf:
200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
[see also: Maritime claims - continental shelf country ranks ]
Climate:
mild temperate; cool, cloudy, wet winters; hot, clear, dry summers; interior is cooler and wetter
More Climate Details
Terrain:
mostly mountains and hills; small plains along coast
Elevation:
mean elevation: 708 m
[see also: Elevation - mean elevation country ranks ]
lowest point:
Adriatic Sea 0 m
highest point:
Maja e Korabit (Golem Korab) 2,764 m
Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, coal, bauxite, chromite, copper, iron ore, nickel, salt, timber, hydropower, arable land
Land use:
agricultural land: 43.1%
(2016 est.)
[see also: Land use - agricultural land country ranks ]
arable land: 22.6%
(2016 est.)
[see also: Land use - arable land country ranks ]
permanent crops: 3%
(2016 est.)
[see also: Land use - permanent crops country ranks ]
permanent pasture: 17.5%
(2016 est.)
[see also: Land use - permanent pasture country ranks ]
forest: 28.12%
(2016 est.)
[see also: Land use - forest country ranks ]
other: 28.75%
(2016 est.)
[see also: Land use country ranks ]
Irrigated land:
3,537 sq km
(2014)
[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]
Population distribution:
a fairly even distribution, with somewhat higher concentrations of people in the western and central parts of the country
Natural hazards:
destructive earthquakes; tsunamis occur along southwestern coast; floods; drought
Environment - current issues:
deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution from industrial and domestic effluents; air pollution from industrial and power plants; loss of biodiversity due to lack of resources for sound environmental management
Environment - international agreements:
party to:
Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified:
none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
strategic location along Strait of Otranto (links Adriatic Sea to Ionian Sea and Mediterranean Sea)
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Albania on this page is re-published from the 2020 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Albania Geography 2020 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Albania Geography 2020 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may have the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assigns counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order.
This page was last modified 27-Jan-20
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