Arable land per capita is the lowest in Europe. According to government figures, self-sufficiency in grain production was achieved in 1976. A wide variety of temperate-zone crops and livestock are raised. Up until 1990, Albania was largely self-sufficient in its food production; thereafter drought and political breakdown necessitated foreign food aid. The land is used in the following manner: arable land 21 percent, permanent crops 4 percent, meadows and pastures 15 percent, forest and woodland 38 percent, other 22 percent.

The official unemployment rate is 16%, and 30% of the population lives below the poverty line. Two-thirds of all workers are employed in the agricultural sector, although the construction and service industries have been expanding recently, the latter boosted significantly by ethnic Albanian tourists from other parts of the Balkans.

The Republic of Albania is situated in the South East region of Europe, South-West of the Balkan Peninsula, along the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. It is positioned between these geographical coordinates: 39º38’ (Konispol) and 42º 39’ (Vermosh) longitude, 19º 16’ (Sazan Island) and 21º 40’ (Vernik village, Korca) latitude. The territory of Albania has an area of 28 748 square kilometres and its population is 3.1 million inhabitants (April 2001). The administrative division of the country consists of 12 prefectures, 36 districts and 374 communes/municipalities.

Date of Inscription: 1992
Brief Description:
Inhabited since prehistoric times, Butrint has been the site of a Greek colony, a Roman city and a bishopric. Following a period of prosperity under Byzantine administration, then a brief occupation by the Venetians, the city was abandoned in the late Middle Ages after marshes formed in the area. The present archaeological site is a repository of ruins representing each period in the city’s development.