Albania: Rural development, migration and uncertainty

This paper briefly reviews some of the post-communist rural development characteristics revealed in Albania up to the mid-1990s. In particular it focuses on the role of both emigration and internal migration as responses to domestic and particularly rural conditions within the country. North-south and rural-urban migration with the development of spontaneous settlements adjacent to the main centres of Tirana and Durrës are seen as presenting short-term expedients perhaps only exacerbating longer-term socio-economic problems. The future is uncertain: Albania is capable of filling a number of niche roles within European agriculture, but investment and domestic incentive is predicted upon both internal and external stability. This may not be forthcoming in the immediate future.