Kukes County

Kukës County functions as an economic capillary between Albania and Kosovo, its fortunes flowing through the Morine border crossing that processed 90,000 people in just three weeks around New Year 2025. Albania's poorest and least developed county, Kukës demonstrates how proximity to borders can both enable survival and entrench dependency. Without Kosovo, local officials note, northern Albanian villages would die—residents cross regularly for markets, healthcare, and farm sales.

The county exhibits extreme source-sink dynamics. Approximately 45% of families depend on social aid; remittances from emigrants subsidize those who remain. Hydropower from the Fierza Dam (500 MW, 1,300 GWh annually) represents the primary industrial output, but electricity exports benefit the national grid more than local employment. Chrome mining at Kalimash provides extractive-sector jobs, yet mineral wealth hasn't translated into development.

Mountainous geography constrains agriculture to livestock grazing and limited grain cultivation. This mirrors high-altitude ecosystems where harsh conditions permit only specialized species. EU cross-border cooperation programs attempt to strengthen ties with Kosovo through improved infrastructure and free local border traffic within 30 kilometers. Whether these initiatives can transform Kukës from a dependent sink into a genuine transit hub remains uncertain—the county's trajectory since the 1990s has been unrelenting decline.