A farmer ploughing his land with a horse in a traditional vineyard - Albania. © Tim Dirven (Panos)
The Secretary of State has announced a review of the DFID Bilateral Aid Programme. The information on this page reflects current activity and is not an indication of the direction or possible outcome of the review.
Since communism fell in Albania in 1992, the country has undergone a period of progress characterized by impressive economic growth and significant social change.
Poverty has retreated as private sector productivity has increased - fewer than one in five people were living on less than $2 a day in 2005, compared to one in four people in 2002. The most vulnerable people enjoy better access to welfare and healthcare (the under-5 mortality rate dropping from 46 out of every 1,000 births in 1990 to 15 in 2007), democracy has gained a real foothold and the country has begun to play a more influential role in Europe.
Recently Albania was reclassified as a middle income nation. As a result, in 2009, the UK changed the way it supports the country. DFID no longer has a bilateral programme in Albania but the UK has continued to support Albanian development through multilateral institutions such as the European Union, the UN and the World Bank.
