Type: | co |
Skyline: | View towards the Vjosa valley, Byllis, Albania (31560000723).jpg |
Caption: | Vjosa Valley |
Map: | Albania (Fier County).svg |
Map Caption: | Map of Albania with Fier County highlighted |
Emblem: | Stema e Qarkut Fier.svg |
Seat: | Fier |
Council Chairman: | Evis Sema (PS) [1] |
Area Total Km2: | 1890 |
Area Rank: | 8th |
Population As Of: | 2021[2] |
Population Total: | 286002 |
Population Rank: | 3rd |
Nuts Code: | AL032 |
Blank Name Sec1: | HDI (2021) |
Blank Info Sec1: | 0.769 · 10th of 12 |
Fier County (in Albanian pronounced as /fieɽ/; Albanian: Qarku Fier|italic=unset), officially the County of Fier (Albanian: Qarku i Fierit|italic=unset), is a county in the Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the eighth largest by area and the third most populous of the twelve counties, with more than 286,000 people within an area of 1890km2. The county borders on the Adriatic Sea to the west, the counties of Tirana to the north, Elbasan to the northeast, Berat to the east, Gjirokastër to the southeast and Vlorë to the south. It is divided into six municipalities, Fier, Divjakë, Lushnjë, Mallakastër, Patos and Roskovec, all of whom incorporate 42 administrative units.[3]
Until 2000, Fier County was subdivided into three districts: Fier, Lushnjë, and Mallakastër. Before 2015, it consisted of 42 municipalities.[3]
According to the last national census from 2011, Fier County had 310,331 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the county include:[4]
Islam is the largest religion in the county, forming 48.52% of the total population (150,559 people). There are also some Bektashi Muslims with 1.01% (3,137 people), 7.15% percent consisting of believers without a denomination (22,186 people) and Christians forming 15.91% of the county's population (Orthodox (13.76%) (42,993 people), Evangelists (0.11% (331 people) (and Roman Catholics) (1.98%) (6,149 people).