President: Bamir Topi Prime minister: Sali Berisha
Population
63,047,162
3,002,859
Life Expectancy
80.170 years
77.590 years
Capital City
London
Tirana (Tirane)
Largest city
London (population: 7,421,210)
Tirana (population: 374,801)
Human Development Index
0.942
0.807
GDP per capita
$36,600 US
$7,800 US
Literacy Rate
99%
98.7%
Corruption Perception Index
7.7
3.4
Percentage of Women in Parliament
19.6%
7.1%
Wealthiest Citizens
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor & family ($11.0bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
8.100%
13.300%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
constitutional monarchy
emerging democracy
Independence date
England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century; the union between England and Wales, begun in 1284 with the Statute of Rhuddlan, was not formalized until 1536 with an Act of Union; in another Act of Union in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to permanently join as Great Britain; the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with the adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland and the current name of the country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927
28 November 1912 (from the Ottoman Empire)
Religions
Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 71.6%, Muslim 2.7%, Hindu 1%, other 1.6%, unspecified or none 23.1% (2001 census)
Muslim 70%, Albanian Orthodox 20%, Roman Catholic 10% note: percentages are estimates; there are no available current statistics on religious affiliation; all mosques and churches were closed in 1967 and religious observances prohibited; in November 1990, Albania began allowing private religious practice
Languages
English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)
textiles and footwear; asphalt, metals and metallic ores, crude oil; vegetables, fruits, tobacco
External Debt
$9,836,000,000,000 $
$5,700,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
British pounds (GBP) per US dollar - 0.5302 (2008 est.), 0.4993 (2007), 0.5418 (2006), 0.5493 (2005), 0.5462 (2004)
leke (ALL) per US dollar - 79.546 (2008 est.), 92.668 (2007), 98.384 (2006), 102.649 (2005), 102.78 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.700%
1.490%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
47
0
Location
Western Europe, islands including the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, northwest of France
Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea, between Greece in the south and Montenegro and Kosovo to the north
Area
243,610 km sq
28,748 km sq
Coastline
12,429 km
362 km
Climate
temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current; more than one-half of the days are overcast
mild temperate; cool, cloudy, wet winters; hot, clear, dry summers; interior is cooler and wetter
