Distri

cts of
Alban
ia
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Updates:

Now that I allow a tertiary level, I have demoted the communes

to tertiary and the districts to secondary.
Albania is divided into 36 rrethe (districts), currently not
functioning.
District
Berat
Bulqiz
Delvin
Devoll
Dibr
Durrs
Elbasan
Fier
Gjirokastr
Gramsh
Has
Kavaj
Kolonj
Kor
Kruj
Kuov
Kuks
Kurbin
Lezh
Librazhd
Lushnj
Malesia e Madhe
Mallakastr
Mat
Mirdit
Peqin
Prmet
Pogradec
Puk
Sarand
Shkodr

ISO

BR
BU
DL
DV
DI
DR
EL
FR
GJ
GR
HA
KA
ER
KO
KR
KC
KU
KB
LE
LB
LU
MM
MK
MT
MR
PQ
PR
PG
PU
SR
SH

FIPS

AL01
AL29
AL30
AL31
AL02
AL03
AL04
AL05
AL06
AL07
AL32
AL33
AL08
AL09
AL10
AL34
AL11
AL35
AL12
AL13
AL14
AL36
AL37
AL15
AL16
AL38
AL17
AL18
AL19
AL20
AL21

Population
128,410
42,985
10,859
34,744
86,144
182,988
224,974
200,154
55,991
35,723
19,842
78,415
17,179
143,499
64,357
35,571
64,054
54,519
68,218
72,520
144,351
36,770
39,881
61,906
37,055
32,920
25,837
70,900
34,454
35,235
185,794

Area(km.)
915
718
367
429
761
455
1,290
850
1,137
695
374
393
805
1,752
372
112
956
235
479
1,102
712
897
325
1,028
867
191
929
725
1,034
730
1,631

County
AL.BE
AL.DB
AL.VR
AL.KE
AL.DB
AL.DU
AL.EB
AL.FI
AL.GK
AL.EB
AL.KK
AL.TI
AL.KE
AL.KE
AL.DU
AL.BE
AL.KK
AL.LZ
AL.LZ
AL.EB
AL.FI
AL.SD
AL.FI
AL.DB
AL.LZ
AL.EB
AL.GK
AL.KE
AL.SD
AL.VR
AL.SD

Capital
Berat
Bulqiz
Delvin
Bilisht
Peshkopi
Durrs
Elbasan
Fier
Gjirokastr
Gramsh
Krum
Kavaj
Ersek
Kor
Kruj
Kuov
Kuks
La
Lezh
Librazhd
Lushnj
Koplik
Ballsh
Burrel
Rrshen
Peqin
Prmet
Pogradec
Puk
Sarand
Shkodr

Skrapar
Tepelen
Tiran
Tropoj
Vlor
36 districts

SK
TE
TR
TP
VL

AL22
AL23
AL28
AL26
AL27

29,874
32,465
523,150
28,154
147,267
3,087,159

775
817
1,193
1,043
1,609
28,703

AL.BE
AL.GK
AL.TI
AL.KK
AL.VR

orovod
Tepelen
Tiran
Bajram Curri
Vlor

ISO: District codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global
context, prefix "AL-" to the code (ex: AL-SK represents Skrapar).
These codes will soon be withdrawn.
FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard.
Population: 2001-04-01 census.
County: HASC code for Post-1993 county.

Further subdivisions:

See the Communes of Albania page.

Underneath the districts there are 61 municipalities.
Territorial extent:

Vlor includes Saseno (Sazan) Island.

Change history:

1. 1912-11-28: Albania, consisting of the vilayet of Scutari and parts of

Monastir and Yanina, declared independence from Turkey.
2. 1913-11-22: A law titled The Appropriate Code of Civil Administration in
Albania took effect. Under it, Albania was divided into eight prefectures:
Berati, Dibra, Durrsi, Elbasani, Gjirokastra, Kora, Shkodra and Vlora.
The prefectures were divided into sub-prefectures, and then into krahina.
"At various points in time, the sub-prefecture was called the district
(rreth)." (Source [3])
3. 1923: Albania acquired a strip of territory in the south from Greece.
4. ~1925: Albania had the following ten prefectures, further subdivided into
57 districts. Dibr was later renamed Peshkopi, and Kuks renamed
Kosovo. The number of districts was 39 in 1927, 30 in 1934, and 61 in
1945.
Prefecture
Berat
Dibr

Pop-1930
142,616
86,992

Pop-1945
126,913
83,677

Area(km.)
Capital
3,666 Berat
2,151 Peshkopij

Became
Berat, Fier, Lushnj, Skrapar
Dibr, Mat

Durrs
Elbasan
Gjinokastr
Kor
Kuks
Shkodr
Tirana
Vlon

77,890
111,422
143,926
147,536
49,081
132,336
57,808
53,461
1,003,068

104,488
111,286
121,253
149,433
49,344
157,665
93,216
115,080
1,112,355

1,550
3,539
4,125
3,750
2,038
5,560
911
1,448
28,738

Durrs
Elbasan
Gjinokastr
Kor
Kuks
Scutari
Tirana
Vlon

Durrs, Kruj
Elbasan, Gramsh, Librazhd
Gjirokastr, Prmet, Sarand, Tepelen
Kolonj, Kor, Pogradec
Kuks, Tropoj
Lezh, Mirdit, Puk, Shkodr
Tiran
Vlor

Pop-1930: 1930 census.

Pop-1945: 1945 census.
Became: Districts formed from this prefecture in 1958.

1. 1946: A new administrative structure was inaugurated. There were 10

prefectures and 39 sub-prefectures. The tertiary level consisted partly of
localities, and the following year, all remaining communes were replaced
by localities; there were also cities and villages.
2. 1953: Status of prefectures changed to regions.
3. 1958-07: The ten prefectures were re-organized into 26 rrethet (singular,
rreth: districts).
4. ~1978: Ersek renamed Kolonj.
5. 1992-06-10: Law No. 7572 created ten new districts. Bulqiz district split
from Dibr; Delvin district split from Sarand; Devoll district split from
Kor; Has district split from Kuks; Kavaj district split from Durrs;
Kuov district split from Berat; La district split from Kruj; Malesia e
Madhe district split from Shkodr; Mallakastr district split from Fier; Peqin
district split from Elbasan. The FIPS standard, which had previously listed
Tiran district and Tiran qytet (municipality) as separate entities, merged
them into one.
6. 1992-09-22: Law No. 7608 created twelve qark (counties, or regions),
each one consisting of two to four districts. Apparently their competency
was limited at first, but expanded in 1995. The districts continued to exist.
7. 1998-11-28: Albania's new Constitution took effect. It specified that the
districts would be replaced as administrative units by the regions. The
communes and municipalities would remain as secondary subdivisions.
This provision was not implemented until 2000 (see below).

8. 1998-12-15: ISO 3166-2 published, superseding ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft

standard). Code for Peqin district changed from PG to PQ; for Tepelen,
from SP to TE; for Tropoj, from BC to TP. This change fixed an error in the
draft standard, where the same code PG had been assigned to two
districts.
9. 1999-03-01: FIPS PUB 10-4 Change Notice 2 issued. It assigned FIPS
codes from AL29 to AL38 to the ten districts created in 1991, and AL39 to
Tiran municipality (not shown in other sources). The other FIPS codes
listed below were unchanged.
10.
~1999: Name of La district changed to Kurbin. This change was
reported in Change Notice 4 to FIPS PUB 10-4, dated 2000-02-25. In ISO
3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2, dated 2002-05-21, the name change is
reported and the corresponding code is changed from LA to KB. The
districts were then as shown in the table above.
11.2000-07-31: Law No. 8653 replaced the districts by the regions as
administrative units.
Other names of subdivisions:

The Italian names are often used by Western Europeans in

general.
1. Dibr: Dibra, Dibr (variant)
2. Durrs: Durresi, Durrsi (variant); Durazzo (Italian)
3. Gjirokastr: Gjinokastr (variant); Argirocastro (Italian); Argyrocastro,
Argyrokastron (Greek)
4. Kolonj: Ersek (obsolete); Kolonja (variant)
5. Kor: Coriza, Corizza, Koritsa, Koritza (Italian); Kora (variant); Kortscha
(German)
6. Kuks: Kosova, Kossovo (obsolete)
7. Lezh: Alessio (Italian); Lezha (variant)
8. Lushnj: Lushenj, Lushnja (variant)
9. Shkodr: Esctari (Portuguese-obsolete); Shkodra, Skodr (variant);
Scutari (Italian)

10.

Tiran: Tiran (Turkish); Tirana (Italian, Spanish)

11.Vlor: Vlona, Vlora, Vlon (variant); Valona (Italian)

Population history:
District
Berat
Dibr
Durrs
Elbasan
Fier
Gjirokastr
Gramsh
Kolonj
Kor
Kruj
Kuks
Lezh
Librazhd
Lushnj
Mat
Mirdit
Prmet
Pogradec
Puk
Sarand
Shkodr
Skrapar
Tepelen
Tiran
Tropoj
Vlor

1960c
85,000
78,000
127,000
105,000
112,000
44,000
20,000
17,000
139,000
43,000
48,000
27,000
36,000
66,000
39,000
17,000
27,000
36,000
23,000
48,000
128,000
20,000
26,000
194,000
21,000
101,000
1,627,000

1970c
115,000
99,000
169,000
142,000
158,000
51,000
27,000
19,000
168,000
69,000
65,000
37,000
44,000
91,000
50,000
27,000
30,000
46,000
29,000
62,000
167,000
28,000
35,000
254,000
28,000
126,000
2,136,000

1973e
124,300
106,800
182,400
154,700
171,500
53,500
29,400
19,200
175,400
75,600
71,400
40,500
48,500
94,100
53,500
29,400
31,700
49,300
32,800
66,500
178,500
30,800
37,800
272,000
30,500
133,500
2,293,600

1978e
140,600
122,000
202,000
187,700
195,000
57,100
34,500
21,000
187,500
84,600
75,400
48,200
56,300
106,400
60,600
40,500
34,100
56,500
40,100
72,000
191,400
37,800
41,600
286,200
36,400
144,900
2,560,400

1982e
154,000
134,800
217,000
208,000
212,000
60,300
38,000
22,300
199,000
93,000
86,000
53,000
63,000
115,400
67,000
45,000
36,400
62,000
45,000
76,700
206,200
42,000
45,200
310,000
39,800
155,000
2,786,100

1988a
173,700
148,200
242,500
238,600
239,700
65,500
43,800
24,600
213,200
105,300
99,400
61,100
70,800
132,200
75,900
49,700
39,400
70,500
48,200
86,600
233,000
45,800
49,100
363,100
44,200
174,000
3,138,100

Key: a = average population for the year; c = census; e = official estimate

Count
ies of
Alban
ia
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Updates:

An administrative reform took effect in 2015. The communes

(komuna) were abolished and absorbed by the municipalities

(bashkia), along with a few mergers or splits, resulting in 61

municipalities subordinate to the counties.
Jose Gavinha sent me the results of the Albanian census of
2011-10-01, found at source [3].
ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number II-1, dated 2010-02-03, changes
the ISO codes for nine counties, prefixing a '0' to each of the
one-digit codes. Now all the county codes are two digits.
ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-6, dated 2004-03-08, shows a
change in terminology. Formerly, the top-level subdivisions of
Albania were called prefectures, or prefektur in Albanian.
According to the new document, they should be called counties
(qark). (However, the statistics bureau's "Albania in Figures"
uses the term prefekturat, or prefectures in English.) ISO's
format indicates that it considers the districts as the primary
subdivisions of Albania, and the counties are regarded just as
groupings of districts.
ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-0521. It lists the twelve new counties, assigns ISO codes to them,
and changes two district names and one district code. La (ISO
code LA) was changed to Kurbin (KB), and Malsia e Madhe was
changed to Malsi e Madhe. FIPS Publication Change Notice
No. 9, issued on 2004-10-01, assigns FIPS codes to the new
counties.
Country overview:
Short name

ALBANIA

ISO code

AL

FIPS code

AL

Language

Albanian (sq)

Time zone

+1 ~

Capital

Tirana

Albania was still part of Turkey at the beginning of the 20th

century. It declared its independence in 1912. The country went
through several forms of government, including occupation
during the World Wars, until it became a republic on 1946-01-11.
Other names of country:

1. Albanian: Shqipria, Republika e Shqipris (formal)

2. Danish: Albanien
3. Dutch: Albani, Republiek Albani (formal)
4. English: Republic of Albania (formal)
5. Finnish: Albania
6. French: Albanie f
7. German: Albanien n
8. Icelandic: Albana
9. Italian: Albania f
10.

Norwegian: Albania, Republikken Albania (formal)

11.Portuguese: Albnia, Repblica f da Albnia f (formal)

12.

Russian: (formal)

13.

Spanish: Albania f

14.

Swedish: Albanien

15.

Turkish: Arnavutluk
Origin of name:

Ancient inhabitants were called Albanoi by Ptolemy. Shqipria is

Albanian for "land of the men of the eagle".
Primary subdivisions:

Albania is divided into twelve qarqe (sing. qark: counties, or

regions).
County
Berat
Dibr
Durrs
Elbasan
Fier
Gjirokastr
Kor

HASC

AL.BE
AL.DB
AL.DU
AL.EB
AL.FI
AL.GK
AL.KE

ISO

01
09
02
03
04
05
06

FIPS

AL40
AL41
AL42
AL43
AL44
AL45
AL46

Pop-2011
141,944
137,047
262,785
295,827
310,331
72,176
220,357

Pop-2001
193,855
191,035
247,345
366,137
384,386
114,293
266,322

Area(km.)
1,802
2,507
827
3,278
1,887
2,883
3,711

Area(mi.)
696
968
319
1,266
729
1,113
1,433

Capital
Berat
Peshkopi
Durrs
Elbasan
Fier
Gjirokastr
Kor

Kuks
Lezh
Shkodr
Tiran
Vlor
12 counties

AL.KK
AL.LZ
AL.SD
AL.TI
AL.VR

07
08
10
11
12

AL47
AL48
AL49
AL50
AL51

85,292
134,027
215,347
749,365
175,640
2,800,138

112,050
159,792
257,018
601,565
193,361
3,087,159

2,373
1,581
3,562
1,586
2,706
28,703

916
610
1,375
612
1,045
11,082

Kuks
Lezh
Shkodr
Tiran
Vlor

HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes.

ISO: County codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context,
prefix "AL-" to the code (ex: AL-04 represents Fier).
FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4.
Pop-2011: 2011-10-01 census.
Pop-2001: 2001-04-01 census. Populations and areas of counties were calculated
by adding the component districts.

Postal codes:

Albania adopted a new set of four-digit postal codes in 2006-10,

but the Albanian post office has been slow to implement them
(Source [1]).
Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Albania page and the Communes of

Albania page.
Underneath the counties there are 36 rrethe (districts), currently
not functioning. Under them there are 308 communes and 65
municipalities.
Territorial extent:

Vlor includes Saseno (Sazan) Island.

The UN LOCODE page for Albania lists locations in the
country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some
with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This
information can be put together to approximate the territorial
extent of subdivisions.
Origins of names:

1. Durrs: from Ancient Greek dyrrachion, possibly meaning dangerous cliffs

2. Elbasan: Turkish el: the people, basan: dominating (originally a fortress)

3. Kor: South Slavic gorica: small mountain

4. Tiran: from Ancient Greek Tyrrenos: Etruscans; or, named after Tehran,
Iran, to commemorate a victory
5. Vlor: from Ancient Greek aulon: narrow passage, strait
Change history:

1. 1912-11-28: Albania, consisting of the vilayet of Scutari and parts of

Monastir and Yanina, declared independence from Turkey.
2. 1913-11-22: A law titled The Appropriate Code of Civil Administration in
Albania took effect. Under it, Albania was divided into eight prefectures:
Berati, Dibra, Durrsi, Elbasani, Gjirokastra, Kora, Shkodra and Vlora.
The prefectures were divided into sub-prefectures, and then into krahina.
"At various points in time, the sub-prefecture was called the district
(rreth)." (Source [3])
3. 1923: Albania acquired a strip of territory in the south from Greece.
4. ~1925: Albania had the following ten prefectures, further subdivided into
57 districts. Dibr was later renamed Peshkopi, and Kuks renamed
Kosovo. The number of districts was 39 in 1927, 30 in 1934, and 61 in
1945.
Prefecture
Berat
Dibr
Durrs
Elbasan
Gjinokastr
Kor
Kuks
Shkodr
Tirana
Vlon

Pop-1930
142,616
86,992
77,890
111,422
143,926
147,536
49,081
132,336
57,808
53,461
1,003,068

Pop-1945
126,913
83,677
104,488
111,286
121,253
149,433
49,344
157,665
93,216
115,080
1,112,355

Area(km.)
3,666
2,151
1,550
3,539
4,125
3,750
2,038
5,560
911
1,448
28,738

Capital
Berat
Peshkopij
Durrs
Elbasan
Gjinokastr
Kor
Kuks
Scutari
Tirana
Vlon

Became
Berat, Fier, Lushnj, Skrapar
Dibr, Mat
Durrs, Kruj
Elbasan, Gramsh, Librazhd
Gjirokastr, Prmet, Sarand, Tepelen
Kolonj, Kor, Pogradec
Kuks, Tropoj
Lezh, Mirdit, Puk, Shkodr
Tiran
Vlor

Pop-1930: 1930 census.

Pop-1945: 1945 census.
Became: Districts formed from this prefecture in 1958.

1. 1946: A new administrative structure was inaugurated. There were 10

prefectures and 39 sub-prefectures. The tertiary level consisted partly of

localities, and the following year, all remaining communes were replaced
by localities; there were also cities and villages.
2. 1953: Status of prefectures changed to regions.
3. 1958-07: The ten prefectures were re-organized into 26 rrethet (singular,
rreth: districts). For the evolution of the districts, see the Districts of
Albania page.
4. 2000-07-31: Law No. 8653 replaced the districts by the regions as
administrative units.
Other names of subdivisions:

The Italian names are often used by Western Europeans in

general.
1. Dibr: Dibra, Dibr (variant)
2. Durrs: Durresi, Durrsi (variant); Durazzo (Italian)
3. Gjirokastr: Gjinokastr (variant); Argirocastro (Italian); Argyrocastro,
Argyrokastron (Greek)
4. Kolonj: Ersek (obsolete); Kolonja (variant)
5. Kor: Coriza, Corizza, Koritsa, Koritza (Italian); Kora (variant); Kortscha
(German)
6. Kuks: Kosova, Kossovo (obsolete)
7. Lezh: Alessio (Italian); Lezha (variant)
8. Lushnj: Lushenj, Lushnja (variant)
9. Shkodr: Esctari (Portuguese-obsolete); Shkodra, Skodr (variant);
Scutari (Italian)
10.

Tiran: Tiran (Turkish); Tirana (Italian, Spanish)

11.Vlor: Vlona, Vlora, Vlon (variant); Valona (Italian)

According to Address Doctor (Source [1]), city names have two
grammatical forms in Albanian, the definite and the indefinite.
"Tirana" is definite and "Tiran" is indefinite.
Population history:

County
Berat
Dibr
Durrs
Elbasan
Fier
Gjirokastr
Kor
Kuks
Lezh
Shkodr
Tiran
Vlor
Total

1960c
105,000
117,000
170,000
161,000
178,000
97,000
192,000
69,000
44,000
151,000
194,000
149,000
1,627,000

1970c
143,000
149,000
238,000
213,000
249,000
116,000
233,000
93,000
64,000
196,000
254,000
188,000
2,136,000

1973e
155,100
160,300
258,000
232,600
265,600
123,000
243,900
101,900
69,900
211,300
272,000
200,000
2,293,600

1978e
178,400
182,600
286,600
278,500
301,400
132,800
265,000
111,800
88,700
231,500
286,200
216,900
2,560,400

1982e
196,000
201,800
310,000
309,000
327,400
141,900
283,300
125,800
98,000
251,200
310,000
231,700
2,786,100

1988a
219,500
224,100
347,800
353,200
371,900
154,000
308,300
143,600
110,800
281,200
363,100
260,600
3,138,100

2001c
193,855
191,035
247,345
366,137
384,386
114,293
266,322
112,050
159,792
257,018
601,565
193,361
3,087,159

Key: a = average population for the year; c = census; e = official estimate

County populations calculated by totaling the populations of

their component districts.
Sources:

1. [1] Postal code information from Address Doctor , retrieved 2009-03-22.

2. [2] Statistical Yearbook of P.S.R. of Albania 1988. Tirane.
3. [3] Census 2011 Publications . Instituti i Statistikave, Tiran (retrieved
2013-10-19).
4. [4] Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States 1992.
Europa Publications Ltd., London, 1992.
5. [5] "A Brief History of the Administrative-territorial Organization in
Albania ." Ministry of State for Local Issues (retrieved 2014-07-05).
6. [6] Resident population by municipality/commune and marital status .
2011 census: Instituti i Statistikave (retrieved 2014-11-13).
7. [7] Electoral map

of Albania (dated 2005-06-20, retrieved 2005-10-15).