5. CLIMATE: Unusually varied. Coastal lowlands have Mediterranean-type
climate. Inland fluctuations common, but continental influences
predominate. Annual precipitation is 40 to 100 inches according to area;
highly seasonal; summer droughts common. Temperatures vary widely
because of differences in elevation and the changes in prevailing
Mediterranean and continental air currents.
6. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS: Twenty-six districts. Economic and social
factors played important role in shaping delineations. Control and
direction is from Tirana.
7. POPULATION: Estimated 2.1 million in January 1970. Growth unusually
rapid; at 1970 rate, would double in twenty-six years. Two-thirds live
in rural areas. Inhabitants are 97-percent ethnic Albanian. About 106
males per 100 females.
8. LABOR: In 1967 the working-age population numbered about 932,000, of
which approximately 745,000 were employed. About 66.7 percent were in
agriculture; 14.1 percent in industry; 5.4 percent in construction; and
13.8 percent in trade, education, health, and others.
9. LANGUAGE: Albanian spoken by everyone. Some of the 3-percent minority
use tongue of country of family origin as a second language.
10. EDUCATION: Nearly all persons under age forty are literate,
according to Albanian statistics. Communist ideas and principles
emphasized with strict controls by centralized authority. Production of
capabilities and skills required for modernization and industrialization
considered to be a major goal.
11. RELIGION: Organized religion destroyed by government action in 1967.
Party-directed antireligious campaign aims to eliminate religious
thought and belief. Pre-World War II data indicated population to be
70-percent Muslim, 20-percent Eastern Orthodox, and 10-percent Roman
Catholic.
12. HEALTH: Many diseases, but reportedly greatly reduced or eliminated.
Health improved substantially after 1950, as reflected in Albanian
reports. Malnutrition, poor sanitary-hygienic conditions, and lack of
trained personnel are continuing problems.
13. JUSTICE: System of people's courts from national to village level;
purportedly independent of administrative system but guided by Party
policy. Supreme Court elected by the People's Assembly. District judges
popularly elected from among Party-approved candidates. Jury system not
used. Persons are subject to military law and tried in military courts.
14. ECONOMY: Government controlled. Follows planning model of Soviet
Union. Per capita gross national product lowest in Europe. Lack of
accessible resources, arable land, and trained work force make for slow
growth.
15. INDUSTRY: Poorly developed despite heavy emphasis since 1950s, with
priority to means of production. Extractive industries most productive.
Growth rates high in 1950s, slowed in 1960s.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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