The average annual growth rate of the Albanian population for the time 1960-90 was 2.4 %, or around 3 to 4 times higher than that of other European countries. Population growth was actively promoted by the government, which deemed it "essential for the further strengthening and prosperity of socialist society." Albania had a population of 3,335,500 in July 1991, compared with 2,831,000 in 1982 and 1,625,000 in 1961. The most sparsely populated Balkan nation until 1965, Albania attained a population density of 111 inhabitants per square kilometer in 1989--the highest in the Balkans. The 1991 growth rate was 1.8%.

In 1991 Albania had a birth rate of 24 per 1,000, and its death rate had 14 per 1,000. The population was among the most youthful in Europe, with an average age of 27 years, and the fertility rate--2.9 children born per woman--was one of Europe's highest. Albania was the only nation in Europe with more males than females.

In 2003 Albania’s population estimate was 3,660,000, resulting in an average density of 124 persons per sq km. More and more people have left rural areas for urban ones, particularly in the northern districts, such that in 1999 some 40% of the population lived in urban areas, compared to 1/5 in 1952. No nation in Europe has a more homogeneous population than Albania, where non-Albanians account for only 2% of the total population. Greeks, concentrated mainly in the southeast, and Slavs, almost all of them Macedonians, constitute the largest minorities.