Albania Military - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Republic of Albania Armed Forces (Forcat e Armatosura të Republikës së Shqipërisë (FARSH); aka Albanian Armed Forces): Land Forces, Naval Force (includes Coast Guard), Air Forces

Ministry of Interior: Guard of the Republic, State Police (includes the Border and Migration Police) (2023)

note: the State Police are primarily responsible for internal security, including counterterrorism, while the Guard of the Republic protects senior state officials, foreign dignitaries, and certain state properties

Military expenditures

1.76% of GDP (2023 est.)

1.2% of GDP (2022 est.)

1.4% of GDP (2021)

1.3% of GDP (2020)

1.5% of GDP (2019)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 7,000 total active duty personnel (5,000 Army; 1,500 Navy; 500 Air Force) (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

since joining NATO, the military has been in the process of modernizing by retiring its inventory of Soviet-era weapons and replacing them with Western equipment, including donated and secondhand purchases  (2023)

Military service age and obligation

18-27 (up to 32 in some cases) for voluntary military service for men and women; conscription abolished 2010 (2023)

note: as of 2021, women comprised about 15% of the military's full-time personnel, including 20% of the officers

Military - note

Albania became a member of NATO in 2009

NOTE: The information regarding Albania on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Albania 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Albania 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.