Albania
Tirana · Southeast Europe
Albania is a country in Europe. Its capital city is Tirana, the official currency is the Lek, and the main language is Albanian.
With a population of roughly 2.8 million people spread over 28,748 km², Albania is the 137th most populous country in the world and the 140th largest by area. That works out at about 97 people per square kilometre.
Albania shares land borders with Montenegro, North Macedonia and Greece — 3 neighbours in all. Its largest urban centres are Tirana, Durrës and Vlorë. The highest point in the country is Mount Korab, at 2,764 metres.
For scale, it covers almost exactly the same area as Solomon Islands, while its population is closest to that of Gambia.
- Capital
- Tirana
- Region
- Southeast Europe
- Population
- 2,800,000
- Area
- 28,748 km²
- Currency
- Lek
- Main language
- Albanian
- Highest point
- Mount Korab
2,764 m - Land borders
- 3
Albania: things worth knowing
- Albania was the most isolated country in Europe under Enver Hoxha, who had several hundred thousand concrete bunkers built across the countryside; many still sit in fields and on beaches today.
- Private cars were banned for ordinary citizens until 1991, so the country went from almost no traffic to full motorisation within a single generation.
- The Albanian language forms its own independent branch of the Indo-European family, with no close living relatives.
Albania in context
Europe has 44 sovereign countries in total. Albania ranks 30th among them by population.
See the full list of Europe countries, or browse all 195 countries.