Albania

President: Bujar Nishani (2011)

Prime Minister: Edi Rama (2013)

Land area: 10,579 sq mi (27,400 sq km); total area: 11,100 sq mi (28,748 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 3,020,209 (growth rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 12.73/1000; infant mortality rate: 13.19/1000; life expectancy: 77.96; density per sq mi: 272

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Tirana, 419,000

Other large cities: Durres, 113,900; Elbasan, 97,000.Albania is situated on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, with Montenegro and Serbia to the north, Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south. Slightly larger than Maryland, Albania is composed of two major regions: a mountainous highland region (north, east, and south) constituting 70% of the land area, and a western coastal lowland region that contains nearly all of the country's agricultural land and is the most densely populated part of Albania. A part of Illyria in ancient times and later of the Roman Empire, Albania was ruled by the Byzantine Empire from 535 to 1204. An alliance (1444–1466) of Albanian chiefs failed to halt the advance of the Ottoman Turks, and the country remained under at least nominal Turkish rule for more than four centuries, until it proclaimed its independence on Nov. 28, 1912.