Housing in the cities was greatly overcrowded, and the allocation of new dwellings built by state funds and controlled by the government provided further restrictions on city growth. Indications were that the expansion of industry would continue to require urban growth but that the rate of growth would be controlled. The largest cities and their populations in 1967 were: Tirana, 170,603; Durres, 80,066; Vlore, 57,745; Korce, 53,563; and Shkoder, 49,095. The birth rate declined only slightly from 1950 to 1970 and in 1968 was 35.5 per 1,000 population (see table 3). Fertility continued at a high level, and there were no apparent influences that tended to reduce the prevailing rate of births. No information was published concerning the effects, if any, on the birth rate of women's employment outside the home, abortions, contraceptives, or other restraints on population growth. The expansion of medical services and improvement in the standard of health during the 1950s and 1960s resulted in a marked decline in the mortality rate, from 14 per 1,000 in 1950 to 8 per 1,000 in 1968. The age structure of the population, with a preponderance in the lower age brackets, provided the potential for a continuing low mortality rate. A concomitant of the reduced death rate was an increase in life expectancy. Data from domestic sources indicated that the average life expectancy at birth increased from 53.5 years in 1950 to 66.1 years in 1965. Because of the highly restrictive policies of the Communist regime, migration into and out of the country had a negligible influence on the size and composition of the population. Internal migration was controlled by requiring approval for persons to move from one location to another. Specific data on the scale and character of population movements were not available. The pattern of sustained high birth rates and declining death rates resulted in high rates of natural increase. Total population increased by 71 percent from 1950 to 1969, whereas the average increase for all other East European Communist countries, excluding the Soviet Union, was 18 percent. The growth rate for 1970 was estimated at 2.7 percent. Government and Party leaders, voicing the need for greater numbers of people for the building of socialism, supported a continuing high level of population growth. They were undeterred, in the face of persistent shortages of food and the requirement for foreign assistance, in their encouragement of a sustained high birth rate and the payment of an allowance for each child. _Table 3. Albanian Vital Statistics for Selected Years, 1950-68 (per thousand population)_ Year Birth Death Natural increase 1950 38.5 14.0 24.5 1960 43.3 10.4 32.9 1968 35.5 8.0 27.5