Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0005/00057.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 23KB | 386 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00057}
$Pretitle{298}
$Title{Albania
Chapter 4B.   Settlement Patterns}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Eugene K. Keefe, Sarah Jane Elpern, Willaim Giloane, James M. Moore, Jr., Weston White}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{percent
health
medical
1960s
population
years
leks
areas
cities
late}
$Date{1971}
$Log{}
Country:     Albania
Book:        Albania, A Country Handbook
Author:      Eugene K. Keefe, Sarah Jane Elpern, Willaim Giloane, James M. Moore, Jr., Weston White
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1971

Chapter 4B.   Settlement Patterns

     Some two-thirds of the people live in rural areas in a widely dispersed
pattern of small villages. The urban population, according to 1969 data, lived
in forty cities with 1,000 to 10,000 inhabitants and twelve cities with over
10,000 dwellers; of the latter group, six had 10,000 to 30,000 inhabitants;
two had 30,000 to 50,000; three had 50,000 to 100,000; and one, Tirana, was
approaching 200,000.

     The heaviest concentrations of settlement in the late 1960s were in the
districts of Tirana with a density of 528 persons per square mile, Durres with
469, Fier with 323, and Lushnje with 298. The area surrounding Korce and the
area immediately around, and to the south of, Shkoder were among the most
thickly settled even though the administrative districts of Korce and Shkoder
were not heavily populated when considered in their entirety (see ch. 3,
Physical Environment).

     Several factors contributed to the pattern of settlement. Large expanses
of mountains and generally rugged terrain made the building of land
transportation routes difficult. Poor soil and lack of water during part of
the year did not provide support to large concentrations of people. Mineral
and other resources were generally not readily accessible or were difficult to
exploit (see ch. 3, Physical Environment).

     Coastal cities generally have a small hinterland, and their influence
does not extend beyond their borders. The port of Durres, with road and rail
links to Tirana, Elbasan, and Fier, is an exception. During the 1960s the area
generally bounded by these cities experienced the greatest growth of industry
and population of any region. Vlore, a port and naval center, increased almost
fourfold between 1945 and 1967, but it lacks links with inland areas.

     Tirana, the capital and largest city, increased from about 60,000
inhabitants in 1945 to 170,000 in 1967, largely because of the expansion of
industry and a growing bureaucracy. It is located on the inner margin of the
coastal plain and is surrounded by an area of the better soils of Albania. The
streets in the central area of the city, where government buildings are
clustered, are wide and attractive; many parts of the city are much like the
rural villages. Tirana has become the most industrialized city and continues
to be a collecting and distributing point for agricultural products of the
area.

     Centers for inland mountain valley or upland basin communities are Berat,
Elbasan, and Korce. They, like most cities, have changed little in appearance
and retain much of the flavor of nineteenth-century agricultural life.

     The typical mountain village, of 70 to 100 homesteads, is located on an
isolated slope among rocks and thin scrub-like vegetation. Only footpaths link
it by land with the outside world. During the summer there is a drought period
which requires that water use be limited to drinking. Houses are clustered in
the south, whereas in the northern mountains they tend to be dispersed. Fields
and pastures are located some distance from the village. Water must be carried
from a common source, usually a spring. Mountain villages frequently are
located at 1,300 to 1,600 feet above sea level. This is generally the line of
contact between the underlying impervious serpentine rock and layer of
limestone and the point where spring water comes to the surface.

     At lower levels the villages are laid out around the collective or state
farms or enterprises, many of which were previously estates or patriarchal
settlements. Here the houses are more substantial, and the fields or other
place of work are near the village. Water is carried from a common source.
Open sewers run down the streets of some villages, but this condition is
gradually changing. Electric power has been extended to about 70 percent of
all villages, but other facilities and amenities, except medical services,
have been little improved since the end of World War II.

Living Conditions

     The standard of living in 1970 was very low, and life was difficult for
the masses despite very modest improvements in living conditions during the
1950s and 1960s. The standard of living was the lowest in Europe and was
improving at a slow pace because priority was given to industry, to increasing
the means of production, and to developing eventual self-sufficiency in food
production, especially of cereal foods. The most widely felt improvements were
in health services and in use of electricity, which resulted from expanding
the electrical network to many villages.

     Plans for the late 1960s and 1970 called for 23 to 25 percent of the
state budget to be spent on social and cultural sectors. In 1967, when total
planned budget spending was 3.6 billion leks (5 leks equal US$1-see Glossary),
the sum for social and cultural sectors was 837 million leks, of which 189
million were for health, 167 million for social insurance, 143 million for
assistance to mothers and children, and 338 million for education and culture.

     The government maintained that it was improving living conditions by
increasing food supplies and commodities and by construction of public
facilities and structures. In February 1970 the chairman of the State Planning
Commission reported that 1,200 dining rooms, 1,140 bakeries, 1,850 public
baths and laundries, and 187 water mains had been built and that electricity
had been supplied to 1,096 additional villages in 1968 and 1969, leaving only
663 without electricity. Although these additions added to the amenities of
life, the rapid growth of population caused heavy strain on the very limited
total resources available.

Medicine and Health

     Medical authorities asserted that many diseases and afflictions that had
taken heavy tolls of life and tended to debilitate large segments of the
population before 1950 had been greatly reduced or eliminated. These successes
were primarily attributable to large-scale inoculation programs, elimination
or reduction in the number of disease-spreading pests, and expansion of health
services. Malnutrition, unsatisfactory sanitary-hygienic conditions, and
indifference to medical aid in some areas posed problems for further
improvements.

     The Communist regime, posing as the protector of the masses, credited
itself with a revolutionary transformation in the health standards of the
country. Data on health and disease from other than Albanian sources were not
available. Statistics released by the Ministry of Health indicated substantial
improvements during the 1960s. Responsibility for shortcomings and
inadequacies relating to health care was attributed to backwardness on the
part of the people or to the lack of resources. Failures on the part of the
Party or government were not mentioned.

     There were widespread epidemics of measles in 1948 and 1949 and 1954 and
1955, of Asiatic influenza in 1957, of typhoid in 1945 and 1950, and of
poliomyelitis in 1953. Health officials stated that there were no epidemics
during the 1960s.

     Malaria was one of the most prevalent diseases before 1950. Health
authorities, assisted by the Rockefeller Foundation beginning in the 1920s,
made considerable progress in eliminating mosquitoes and reducing the
incidence of malaria before World War II. The campaign was continued by the
Italians during their occupation. The ravages of war greatly increased the
spread of malaria from 1945 to 1947; according to Communist reports