Gjirokastër County () is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The total population in 2023 was 60,013, in an area of 2884 km². Its capital is the city

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...

Administrative divisions

Until 2000, Gjirokastër County was subdivided into three districts:

, Përmet, and

Tepelenë Tepelenë ( sq-definite, Tepelena) is a city and a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in the south of Albania. The town is on the left bank of the Vjosa River, about three kilometres downstream from its union with the Drino. Until the abolition ...

. Since the 2015 local government reform, the county consists of the following 7 municipalities:

Dropull Dropull ( sq-definite, Dropulli; ''Dropoli'' or ''Deropoli'') is a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. The region stretches from south of the city of Gjirokastër to the Greek–Albanian border, along the Drino river. The reg ...

, Këlcyrë, Libohovë, Memaliaj, Përmet and

. Before 2015, it consisted of the following 32 municipalities: * Antigonë * Ballaban * Buz * Çarshovë * Cepo * Dishnicë * Dropull i Poshtëm * Dropull i Sipërm * Frashër * Fshat Memaliaj *

* Këlcyrë * Kordhocë * Krahës * Kurvelesh * Lazarat * Libohovë * Lopës * Luftinjë * Lunxhëri * Memaliaj * Odrie * Përmet * Petran * Picar * Pogon * Qendër Libohovë * Qendër Piskovë * Qendër Tepelenë * Qesarat * Sukë *

* Zagori The municipalities consist of about 270 towns and villages in total. See Villages of Gjirokastër County for a structured list.

Demographics

According to the last national census from 2023 this county has 60,013 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the county include

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

Aromanians The Aromanians () are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgari ...

, Romani, and Balkan Egyptians. In the 2023 census Gjirokastër's was predominantly Albanian, accounting for 82.7% of the residents. The Greek community follows, making up 14.2% of the population. Smaller ethnic groups include Egyptians (0.3%), Romani (0.3%), and Bulgarians (0.1%). There are also minor groups such as Bosniaks (0.02%), Aromanians (0.3%), Macedonians (0.02%), Serbs (0.03%), and Montenegrins (0.02%). Additionally, 0.1% of the population identifies as mixed ethnicity. A small proportion, 0.01%, reported having no ethnicity, while 0.6% preferred not to answer, and 1.1% had unavailable or missing data.

Religion

In Gjirokastër, the religious affiliation is both diverse and secular, with various communities practicing different faiths alongside a significant portion identifying as non-religious. Overall, 62.16% of residents identified with a religion. Between 2011 and 2023, the population decreased from 72,176 to 60,013, with notable shifts in religious affiliation. Between the 2011 and 2023 censuses, the religious composition shifted significantly. The

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

population dropped sharply from 38.5% to 14.4%, while the

Bektashi Bektashism (, ) is a tariqa, Sufi order of Islam that evolved in 13th-century western Anatolia and became widespread in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after the wali, ''walī'' "saint" Haji Bektash Veli, with adherents called Bektashis. The ...

community grew from 8.5% to 21.0%. The

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

population decreased slightly from 2.1% to 1.2%, and Orthodox Christians saw an increase from 17.4% to 25.3%. Evangelical Christians also experienced modest growth, rising from 0.08% to 0.26%. In contrast, the non-religious population expanded considerably. Atheists grew from 6.3% to 7.3%, making Gjirokastër home to the second-highest share of atheists in Albania. Meanwhile, believers without denomination rose from 8.4% to 14.4%.

Notable people

* Ali Pasha of Tepelenë *

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the Secretary (titl ...

* Ismail Kadare * Stath Melani * Evangelos Zappas * Agron Llakaj

References

External links