on
movements were not available.

The pattern of sustained high birth rates and declining death rates
resulted in high rates of natural increase. Total population increased
by 71 percent from 1950 to 1969, whereas the average increase for all
other East European Communist countries, excluding the Soviet Union, was
18 percent. The growth rate for 1970 was estimated at 2.7 percent.

Government and Party leaders, voicing the need for greater numbers of
people for the building of socialism, supported a continuing high level
of population growth. They were undeterred, in the face of persistent
shortages of food and the requirement for foreign assistance, in their
encouragement of a sustained high birth rate and the payment of an
allowance for each child.

_Table 3. Albanian Vital Statistics for Selected Years, 1950-68 (per
thousand population)_

Year Birth Death Natural increase

1950 38.5 14.0 24.5
1960 43.3 10.4 32.9
1968 35.5 8.0 27.5

Source: Adapted from U.S. Department of
Commerce, Office of Technical Services,
Joint Publications Research Service
(Washington), "Protection of Mother and
Child Health, the High Expression of
Socialist Humanism, Realized by the Party
During the 25 Years of People's Power," by
Vera Ngjela et al., in Shendetesia
Popullore (People's Health), Tirana, 1969
(JPRS: 50,302, _Translations on Eastern
Europe, Political Sociological, and
Military Affairs_, Nos. 204, 1970).

ETHNIC GROUPS

Persons of non-Albanian ethnic origin--Greeks, Vlachs, Bulgars, Serbs,
and Gypsies--constitute only about 3 percent of the population. Among
the Albanians, the natural dividing line between the Gegs and the Tosks
is the Shkumbin River, but there is some spillover on both sides.
Numerically, the Gegs predominate, making up slightly over one-half of
the Albanians within the country (see ch. 2, Historical Setting).

Despite successive foreign invasions and centuries of occupation, a
distinctive ethnic identity was preserved. Mountains and the lack of
communication routes provided isolation and opportunity to evade
intruders. Nevertheless, the imprints of foreign influences were
considerable. Additions and modifications to the language were made from
the Latin, Greek, Slavic, and Turkish contacts. Lacking an organized
religion as part of their Illyrian heritage, Albanians embr