Polity · 1912 CE – 1997 CE

Albania

Republika e Shqipërisë · Shqipëria

Peak recorded area: 27,820 km²; 1936 CE
Rulers on record: 25; from 1912 CE
Data series: 66; 1912 CE–1990 CE
Sources cited: 11; see all

Overview

Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, North Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south. With an area of 28,748 km2 (11,100 sq mi), it has a varied range of climatic, geological, hydrological and morphological conditions.

Lead section from Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article.

Territory

9 dated territorial extents on record from Cliopatria. Areas are measured off the recorded polygons; the line steps because each extent holds until the next one is recorded — nothing is interpolated. CShapes 2.0 holds 3 further extents, measured on a different basis and deliberately not merged into this series.

See the 1936 CE borders on the map →

The record

The best-attested series in each category; where several projects publish the same quantity, the one with the most observations is shown. Each row is the most recent value the record holds at or before 1997 CE, shown with the year that value belongs to. Some statistical series also publish forward projections — the year column is the honest guide. Nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated by us.

People

6 of 17 series

People series recorded for Albania, each with the year the value belongs to and the source it came from
Series	Value · year · source
Population69 obs · 1 CE–1990 CE	3.3Mpersons1990 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators
Life Expectancy31 obs · 1960 CE–1990 CE	72.71years1990 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators
Urban Population28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	0persons1945 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0
Urbanization Rate6 obs · 1960 CE–1965 CE	31.23% of total1965 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators
Population Growth5 obs · 1961 CE–1965 CE	2.75% annual1965 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators
City Pop Shkoder3 obs · 1810 CE–1900 CE	32Kpersons1900 CE · Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban Population

Economy

6 of 18 series

Economy series recorded for Albania, each with the year the value belongs to and the source it came from
Series	Value · year · source
GDP per capita PPP126 obs · 1820 CE–1945 CE	2,153int'l $ (inflation adj.)1945 CE · Gapminder
Total Exports28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	0.4million USD (current)1945 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0
Total Imports28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	1.6million USD (current)1945 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0
Trade Balance28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	-1.2million USD (current)1945 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0
Trade Openness28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	2million USD (current)1945 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0
Coal Rents % GDP7 obs · 1984 CE–1990 CE	0.2245%1990 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators

Military

Military series recorded for Albania, each with the year the value belongs to and the source it came from
Series	Value · year · source
CINC Score28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	0.0003CINC (share of world capability)1945 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0
Energy Consumption28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	197Kcoal-ton equivalents1945 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0
Iron Steel Production28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	0tons1945 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0
Military Expenditure28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	10.3Mcurrent USD1945 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0
Military Personnel28 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	60Kpersons1945 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0

Territory & resources

6 of 14 series

Territory & resources series recorded for Albania, each with the year the value belongs to and the source it came from
Series	Value · year · source
Coal Production46 obs · 1900 CE–1945 CE	0TWh1945 CE · Our World in Data Energy
Gas Production46 obs · 1900 CE–1945 CE	0TWh1945 CE · Our World in Data Energy
Oil Production46 obs · 1900 CE–1945 CE	0.465TWh1945 CE · Our World in Data Energy
Arable Land %5 obs · 1961 CE–1965 CE	16.79% of land area1965 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators
Surface Area5 obs · 1961 CE–1965 CE	28.8Ksq. km1965 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators
Electricity From Coal %	0%1990 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators

Governance

Governance series recorded for Albania, each with the year the value belongs to and the source it came from
Series	Value · year · source
Rule Of Law Index34 obs · 1912 CE–1945 CE	0.499index (0-1)1945 CE · V-Dem v15
Electoral Democracy Index32 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	0.045index (0-1)1945 CE · V-Dem v15
Liberal Democracy Index32 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	0.031index (0-1)1945 CE · V-Dem v15
Participatory Democracy Index32 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	0.03index (0-1)1945 CE · V-Dem v15
Polity232 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	-5index (-10 to 10)1945 CE · Clio-Infra
Regime Type32 obs · 1914 CE–1945 CE	0RoW index (0-3)1945 CE · V-Dem v15

Development

Development series recorded for Albania, each with the year the value belongs to and the source it came from
Series	Value · year · source
Freedom Of Expression Index34 obs · 1912 CE–1945 CE	0.033index (0-1)1945 CE · V-Dem v15
Tech Radios22 obs · 1913 CE–1939 CE	0count1939 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn)
Electricity Access %	100%1990 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators
Electricity Access Rural %	100%1990 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators
Electricity Access Urban %	100%1990 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators
Internet Users %	0% of population1990 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators

Rulers

25 on record with dated reigns. Reign years follow the house convention: BCE years are negative.

Ismail KemalPrime Minister of Albania1912 CE – 1914 CE
Essad ToptaniPrime Minister of Albania1914 CE – 1916 CE
Fejzi AlizotiPrime Minister of Albania1914 CE
Turhan PërmetiPrime Minister of Albania1914 CE
Iliaz VrioniPrime Minister of Albania1920 CE – 1921 CE
Sulejman DelvinaPrime Minister of Albania1920 CE
Pandeli EvangjeliPrime Minister of Albania1921 CE
Xhafer Bej YpiPrime Minister of Albania1922 CE
Zog I of AlbaniaPrime Minister of Albania1922 CE – 1924 CE
Fan S. NoliPrime Minister of Albania1924 CE
Shefqet VërlaciPrime Minister of Albania1924 CE
Zog I of AlbaniaPresident of Albania1925 CE – 1928 CE
Kostaq KotaPrime Minister of Albania1928 CE – 1930 CE
Mehdi FrashëriPrime Minister of Albania1935 CE – 1936 CE
Maliq BushatiPrime Minister of Albania1943 CE
Rexhep MitrovicaPrime Minister of Albania1943 CE – 1944 CE
Enver HoxhaPrime Minister of Albania1944 CE – 1954 CE
Ibrahim BiçakçiuPrime Minister of Albania1944 CE
Omer NishaniPresident of Albania1946 CE – 1953 CE
Haxhi LleshiPresident of Albania1953 CE – 1982 CE
Mehmet ShehuPrime Minister of Albania1954 CE – 1981 CE
Fatos NanoPrime Minister of Albania1991 CE
Ramiz AliaPresident of Albania1991 CE – 1992 CE
Ylli BufiPrime Minister of Albania1991 CE
Sali BerishaPresident of Albania1992 CE – 1997 CE

Language & currency

Official & national languages: Albanian
Currency: Albanian lek (ALL)

Memberships

Italy–Albania Entente (1926)Historical alliance · member1926 CE – 1927 CE
Italy–Albania Defense Pact (1927)Military alliance · member1927 CE – 1939 CE

Sources

Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing on this page is estimated, interpolated or model-generated.

Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban PopulationChandler 1987 / Modelski 2003
Chandler, T. (1987). Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth; Modelski, G. (2003). World Cities: -3000 to 2000.
Compiled from published works (Chandler 1987; Modelski 2003)
CHAT (Comin-Hobijn)2009 (FinalCHAT_72909)
Comin, D. & Hobijn, B. (2009). The CHAT Dataset. NBER Working Paper 15319.
NBER research data, freely downloadable
Clio-Infra2017 datasets
Clio-Infra project (2017). Reconstructions of global inequality and well-being. International Institute of Social History.
Academic use, attribution
Cliopatria
Seshat Global History Databank. Cliopatria: a historical basemap of polity borders (cliopatria.geojson).
Correlates of War NMC v6.0v6.0
Singer, J.D. (1987). National Material Capabilities Data (NMC), v6.0. Correlates of War Project.
Free academic use, citation
CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0v4.0
Barbieri, K. & Keshk, O. (2016). Correlates of War Project Trade Data Set, v4.0.
Free academic use, citation
Gapminderv14 / systema globalis
Gapminder Foundation. Gapminder systema globalis dataset.
CC BY 4.0
Our World in Data Energy2024
Our World in Data (2024). Energy dataset. Based on Energy Institute & Ember.
CC BY 4.0
V-Dem v15v15
Coppedge, M. et al. (2025). V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v15. Varieties of Democracy Project.
Free academic/non-commercial use, attribution
Wikipedia
Wikipedia contributors. Article lead sections, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
World Bank World Development Indicators2024 release
World Bank (2024). World Development Indicators. Washington, DC.
CC BY 4.0

Albania is one of the polities with a sourced record deep enough to publish.

Open the map at 1936 CE →