Fier County (; ), officially the County of Fier (), is a
county
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 ...
in the
Southern Region of the
Republic of Albania. It is the eighth largest by area and the
third most populous of the twelve counties, with about 240,000 people within an area of . The county borders on the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
to the west, the counties of
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 ...
to the north,
Elbasan to the northeast,
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 ...
to the east,
Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...
to the southeast and
Vlorë
Vlorë ( ; ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, third most populous city of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surr ...
to the south. It is divided into six
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
,
Fier,
Divjakë
Divjakë (; sq-definite, Divjaka) is a municipality and town in Fier County, Albania. The municipality consists of the administrative units of Grabian, Gradishtë, Remas, Tërbuf with Divjakë constituting its seat. As of the Institute of S ...
,
Lushnjë,
Mallakastër,
Patos and
Roskovec, all of whom incorporate 42
administrative units.
Geography
Until 2000, Fier County was subdivided into three districts:
Fier,
Lushnjë, and
Mallakastër. Before 2015, it consisted of 42 municipalities.
[
]
Economy
Fier County maintains a relatively strong economy within Albania with agriculture and heavy industry serving as a backbone of the area during the communist era. Wages in the county are above the Albanian average. More recently, a service-based economy has become more prominent locally as well as small-scale manufacturing by foreign companies.
Fier additionally has been the home of power-generation in Albania with the construction of the Fier Power Plant during the communist era. Although it was decommissioned in 2007, a joint Greek-Albanian venture was announced in 2023 to revitalize these thermal plants to diversify Albania’s electrical industry.
Demography
According to the last national census from 2023, Fier County had 240,377 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the county as of 2011 include:Albanians
The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...
= 241,163 (77.71%)
*Greeks
Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
= 332 (0.11%)
* Macedonians = 18 (0.01%)
*Montenegrins
Montenegrins (, or ) are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common ancestry, culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro.
Montenegrins are mostly Orthodox Christians; however, the population also includes ...
= 5 (0.00%)
*Aromanians
The Aromanians () are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgari ...
= 1,553 (0.50%)
* Romani = 1,640 (0,53%)
*Egyptians
Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...
= 75 (0,02%)
*others = 171 (0.06%)
*no answer = 65,374 (21.07%)
Religion
Between the 2011 and 2023 censuses in Fier, the religious composition experienced several changes. The proportion of Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
saw a decrease from 48.5% to 39.0%. In contrast, the presence of Bektashism significantly increased from 1.0% to 5.9%. The share of Catholic Christians decreased from 2.0% to 0.8%, while Orthodox Christians saw a slight increase from 13.8% to 16.0%. Evangelical Christians witnessed a growth from 0.1% to 0.4%.
Notably, there was a considerable expansion in the segment of the population identifying as believers without denomination, which more than doubled from 7.2% to 18.1%. The proportion of atheists also increased from 3.6% to 5.0%. Conversely, there was a marked decrease in the percentage of individuals who preferred not to answer, falling from 20.9% to 12.9%, and those whose religious affiliation was not stated or available also decreased from 2.9% to 1.9%.
See also
* Geography of Albania
* Politics of Albania
* Divisions of Albania
References
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Fier