Central Albania () is a subdivision of Albania as defined by the

Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS () is a geocode standard for referencing the administrative divisions of countries for statistical purposes. The standard, adopted in 2003, is developed and regulated by the European ...

(NUTS). It is one of the three classified NUTS-2 statistical regions of Albania. The region incorporates the central parts of the country including the capital

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

, and encompasses an area of . It incorporates the

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

, and

Elbasan Elbasan ( , ; sq-definite, Elbasani, ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in centr ...

. With a population of nearly one million, it is the most populated of the all the regions in Albania.

Classification

The country of Albania is organized into 12

for administrative purposes. The

(NUTS) organizes the country into three broader level sub-divisions. These are classified as a NUTS-2 statistical regions of Albania, and incorporate one or more counties within it. The regions form the NUTS-3 territorial units under them.

Geography

Central Albania incorporates the central parts of the country around the capital city of

, encompassing an area of . The region is located in

Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

, bordering the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

. It shares an international land border with Struga Municipality of North Macedonia. It is bordered by the counties of Dibër and Durres of North Albania to the north, and

Berat Berat (; sq-definite, Berati) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, ninth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Berat County and Berat Municipality. By air, it is north of Gjirokastër, west of Korçë, south of Tirana, and ea ...

Fier Fier (; sq-definite, Fieri, Latin: ''Fierum'') is the seventh most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Fier County and Fier Municipality. It is situated on the bank of Gjanica River in the Myzeqe Plain between the Seman in ...

and Korce of South Albania to the south. The western part of the region consists of a narrow coast which reaches a maximum width of in the

Elbasan county Elbasan County () is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The population is 232,580 (as of 2023), in an area of 3199 km2. Its capital is the city Elbasan. Administrative divisions Until 2000, Elbasan County was subdivided into four districts: ...

. It is made up of

marshlands In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

, and eroded low lying scrublands often with no vegetation. Moving towards the west, the elevation increases gradually, and consists of arable lands suitable for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. These lands extend towards the foothills of the central uplands called

Çermenikë Çermenikë or Çermenika is an upland northeast of Elbasan, in central Albania. In the Middle Ages, as ''Tzernikon'' or ''Tzernikos'' it was an episcopal see of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, as a suffragan see of the Archbishopric of Dyr ...

, which consist of small hills with average elevation ranging between . The western part of the region lies on a faultline, and is in a seismically active zone. The Albanian rivers that pass through the region flow from east to west due to the

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

of the land. Due to its closeness to the sea, the western lowlands experience warm and humid summers, and milder winters. The

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

increases while moving eastwards, with the central highlands experiencing the greatest rainfall.

Sub-regions

Central Albania consists of two counties:

Tirana County Tirana County (), officially the County of Tirana (), is a county in the Central Region of Albania. It is the tenth largest by area and the most populous of the twelve counties, with more than 912,000 people within an area of . The county border ...

and

Elbasan County Elbasan County () is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The population is 232,580 (as of 2023), in an area of 3199 km2. Its capital is the city Elbasan. Administrative divisions Until 2000, Elbasan County was subdivided into four districts: ...

List

Demographics

With a population of nearly one million, it is the most populated of the all the regions in Albania. The population consists of 448,003 males and 543,090 females. With a GRDP of €7.647 billion, the region contributes to more than 50% of the country's

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

References