The main trends of spatial development of modern Albania

Abstract

The article deals with the main problems of spatial development of modern Albania. It is argued that the study of Albania by Russian socio-economic geography has paid little attention. In the Russian mass consciousness, this country is surrounded by a lot of inventions that have nothing to do with reality: one of these inventions is the perception of Albania as a purely Muslim country and in general the outpost of the «Islamic world». In fact, Albania is a multi-religious state, but religious differences do not matter much for Albanians. In the geodemographic development of modern Albania there is a steady increase in the share of the center of the country, which now exceeds 50 % of the population. As a Center, the authors consider two main cities, Tirana and Durres, that does not correlate with the official zoning of Albania. The sharp increase in the share of the Center shows the similarity of Albania with Asian states, and in general it can be argued that Albania geographically belongs to Europe, and socially, demographically and historically is closer to Asia. The spatial structure of Albania's economy is characterized by an increase in the share of the Center with a decrease in its economic efficiency, as well as the lag of the North from the South, due to the factor of economic and geographical position. The realization of the idea of "Great Albania", connected with the artificiality of the state borders defined in 1913, is extremely unprofitable for modern Albania in economic, social and demographic terms.