Republic of  Albania

Area: 28,748 sq km

Population: 3,169,087   

Capital: Tirana

Urbanites: 48%

HDI Rank: 70 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples: 13 (15% unreached)

Official language: Albanian    Languages: 7

Largest Religion: Muslim

Answer to Prayer

The Albanian Church is maturing from the infancy stages of the 1990s into a wide-ranging community of believers with greater indigenous leadership, nationwide organizational structures and a more holistic vision for discipleship and evangelism. All these have been achieved in a climate of politico-economic instability and antipathy toward non-traditional confessions.

Challenge for Prayer

The religious climate is very hazy. Albanians’ pragmatic and tolerant approach (“if it works, use it”) to religion contributes to this. Pray that wider-Balkan religious tensions will not begin to grow here; the three main confessions (Muslim, Orthodox, Catholic) are often uncomfortable with more recent groups. The statistical figures for religions and denominations are only a guideline, since there are no reliable sources and the large majority of affiliates are very nominal in their practice.

Source URL: http://www.operationworld.org/country/alba/owtext.html