Fier County

Fier County (Albanian pronunciation: [fieɽ]; Albanian: Qarku Fier), officially the County of Fier (Albanian: Qarku i Fierit), is a county 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 1,890 km² (730 sq mi). The county borders on the Adriatic Sea to the west, the counties of Tirana to the north, Elbasan to the northeast, Berat to the east, Gjirokastër to the southeast and Vlorë to the south. It is divided into six municipalities, Fier, Divjakë, Lushnjë, Mallakastër, Patos and Roskovec, all of whom incorporate 42 administrative units.^[3]

Fier County Qarku i Fierit (Albanian)
County
Vjosa Valley
Emblem
Map of Albania with Fier County highlighted
Coordinates: 40°45′N 19°35′E
Country	Albania
Seat	Fier
Subdivisions	6 municipalities: Divjakë Fier Lushnjë Mallakastër Patos Roskovec
Government
• Council chairman	Evis Sema (PS) [1]
Area
• Total	1,890 km2 (730 sq mi)
• Rank	8th
Population  (2023[2])
• Total	240,377
• Rank	2nd
• Density	130/km2 (330/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
HDI (2022)	0.762 high · 10th
NUTS Code	AL032
Website	Official Website

Geography

Until 2000, Fier County was subdivided into three districts: Fier, Lushnjë, and Mallakastër. Before 2015, it consisted of 42 municipalities.^[3]

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

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1950	129,785	—
1960	177,598	+36.8%
1969	242,394	+36.5%
1979	304,476	+25.6%
1989	379,342	+24.6%
2001	382,544	+0.8%
2011	310,331	−18.9%
2023	240,377	−22.5%
Source: [4][5]

According to the last national census from 2023, Fier County had 240,377 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the county as of 2011 include:^[6]

• Albanians = 241,163 (77.71%)
• Greeks = 332 (0.11%)
• Macedonians = 18 (0.01%)
• Montenegrins = 5 (0.00%)
• Aromanians = 1,553 (0.50%)
• Romani = 1,640 (0,53%)
• Egyptians = 75 (0,02%)
• others = 171 (0.06%)
• no answer = 65,374 (21.07%)

Islam is the largest religion in the county, forming 48.52% of the total population (150,559 people). There are also some Bektashi Muslims with 1.01% (3,137 people), 7.15% percent consisting of believers without a denomination (22,186 people) and Christians forming 15.91% of the county's population (Orthodox (13.76%) (42,993 people), Evangelists (0.11% (331 people) (and Roman Catholics) (1.98%) (6,149 people).

See also

• Geography of Albania
• Politics of Albania
• Divisions of Albania

References

1. "Konstituohet Këshilli i Qarkut Fier! Evis Sema rizgjidhet për një mandat të dytë si kryetare".
2. "Main Results of the Population and Housing Census 2023" (PDF). INSTAT.
3. "Law nr. 115/2014" (PDF) (in Albanian). p. 6370. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
4. "Division of Albania".
5. "Census of Population and Housing". Institute of Statistics Albania.
6. "2011 census results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-05-25.