Albania - Context and Land Governance | Land Portal
Albania image by Michaela DunkelBunt

Albania has significant natural resources, including fertile agricultural land, an Adriatic/Ionian coastline, abundant water resources with hydropower potential and valuable mineral deposits. Since the fall of communism in 1991, the country has made significant progress toward establishing a multi-party democracy and has implemented numerous economic reforms. Albania‘s economy is one of the fastest growing in Europe (averaging 5.5% in the 2006 – 2009 period) and the percentage of the population living in poverty fell from 25% in 2002 to 12% in 2008.

However, despite its progress Albania remains one of the poorest countries in Europe. Per capita income was US $4,070 in 2009. Of its labor force of about 2 million people, an estimated 1.2 million work abroad; remittances are responsible for an estimated 30-40% of GDP. The country faces high unemployment (13% in 2010), low foreign direct investment, poor infrastructure and rising trade deficits. Albania applied for European Union membership in April 2009. In November 2010, the European Commission‘s assessment recognized the progress that Albania has made but concluded that Albania‘s democratic institutions have not yet achieved the effectiveness and stability required for membership.

One area called out by the European Commission in its assessment was Albania‘s persistent land tenure insecurity. Land reforms implemented after the fall of communism provided hundreds of thousands of people with smallholdings and urban residences but failed to address the rights of pre-1945 landowners. The estimated 41,000 claims to restitution and compensation remain largely unresolved and undermine tenure security and the development of functioning formal land markets. Almost 70% of all civil cases pending in Albanian courts involve land disputes. The courts suffer from an inadequate legal framework, inefficiencies, and corruption. Albanian citizens have resorted to bringing property claims against the Government of Albania (GOA) before the European Court for Human Rights (EctHR) – where initial decisions are going against the GOA. The GOA is taking steps to strengthen property rights, including continuing a national project to register all property and to regularize the significant number of informal landholdings in urban and peri-urban areas. Creating a plan to address the claims for restitution and compensation from pre-1945 landowners is proving most challenging.

The GOA is also targeting the agricultural and mining sectors with initiatives designed to promote growth and good governance of natural resources. Albania‘s agricultural sector, which accounts for over half of employment but only about one-fifth of GDP, is limited primarily to small family operations and subsistence farming. GOA strategies to improve agricultural performance will require support for modern equipment and extension services, sufficient high-quality inputs, continued rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure, and the development of farmer associations and a functioning rental market for agricultural land. In the mining sector, the GOA is in the process of revising the legal framework and developing systems to support its candidacy for an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative county.

Selected indicators

Total spending for agricultural reserch measured measured as a share of the value added from agriculture, forestry and fishing activities

Measurement unit: 
Percentage (%)

Distribution of agricultural holders by sex (female - Share %) according to the FAO Land and Gender Database.

Measurement unit: 
Percentage (%)

GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP). PPP GDP is gross domestic product converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates.

Measurement unit: 
PPP$ 2011

Land area is the total area (1'000 ha) of the country excluding area under inland water bodies.

Measurement unit: 
1'000 ha

Total funding (US $) for programmes still ongoing. Last updated on the 31st of January, 2019.

Measurement unit: 
US$ (Current)

Total number of programmes still ongoing. Last updated on the 31st of January, 2019.

Measurement unit: 
Number

Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country

Measurement unit: 
Number

Rural population refers to the share (%) of people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the ratio between Urban Population and Total Population.

Measurement unit: 
Percentage (%)

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Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country

Measurement unit: 
Number

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Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country

Measurement unit: 
Number
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Arable land (1'000 Ha) is the land under temporary agricultural crops (multiple-cropped areas are counted only once), temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens

Measurement unit: 
1'000 ha

It measures the area (1'000 Ha) covered by forest.

Measurement unit: 
1'000 ha

Land area is the total area (1'000 ha) of the country excluding area under inland water bodies.

Measurement unit: 
1'000 ha

Land used permanently (five years or more) to grow herbaceous forage crops through cultivation or naturally (wild prairie or grazing land).

Measurement unit: 
1'000 ha

Land cultivated with long-term crops which do not have to be replanted for several years (such as cocoa and coffee), land under trees and shrubs producing flowers (such as roses and jasmine), and n

Measurement unit: 
1'000 ha

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