List of rivers of Albania facts for kids

Hydrogeological Map of Albania
Source: Ministry of Industry and Mines (1985)

Albania is a country with many rivers and streams. It has 152 rivers in total! Ten of these are large rivers. They mostly flow from the southeast to the northwest. Most of them end up in the Adriatic Sea. All together, these rivers carry about 1,308 cubic meters of water every second. That's a lot of water!

In the mountains, rivers flow through narrow valleys. These valleys often have steep sides and are very deep. When it rains a lot, the rivers collect smaller streams and carry a lot of mud and sand. This makes the riverbeds change their shape often.

Most of the river water comes from rain (65-92%). The rest comes from underground water (8-35%). On average, Albania gets 1,494 mm of rain each year. About 945 mm of this rain flows into the rivers. The amount of water in the rivers changes with the seasons. Winter has the most water flow (40% of the yearly total). Spring comes next, then autumn, and finally summer.

The river water usually has 150 to 500 mg of minerals per liter. Rivers also carry about 60 million tons of dirt and rocks each year. This happens more in the areas around the Osum, Devoll, and Erzen rivers. In winter, river temperatures are cool, from 3.5 to 8.9°C. In summer, they get warmer, from 17.8 to 24.6°C.

Major Rivers of Albania

Albania has many important rivers. Here is a list of the main ones.      This river is part of a protected area.      This river is part of a national park.      This river is part of a world heritage site.

No.	Image	River Name	Length	Basin Size	Annual Water Flow	Map
1		Drin	285 km	14,173 km²	352 m³/s
2		Devoll	196 km (122 mi)	3,140 km²	49.5 m³/s
3		Vjosa	192 km (119 mi)	6,706 km²	195 m³/s
4		Shkumbin	181.4 km (112.7 mi)	2,444 km²	61.5 m³/s
5		Osum	161 km (100 mi)	2,073 km²	32.5 m³/s
6		Mat	115 km (71 mi)	2,441 km²	103 m³/s
7		Erzen	109 km (68 mi)	760 km²	18.1 m³/s
8		Fan	94 km (58 mi)	1,080 km²	46 m³/s
9		Seman	85 km (53 mi)	5,649 km²	95.7 m³/s
10		Drino	84.6 km (52.6 mi)	1,320 km²	41.6 m³/s

Other Important Rivers

Here are some other rivers in Albania that are also important.

No.	Image	River Name	Length	Basin Size	Annual Water Flow	Map
11		Shushicë	81.6 km (50.7 mi)	715 km²	24.3 m³/s
12		Ishëm	62.2 km (38.6 mi)	673 km²	21.5 m³/s
13		Cem	58.8 km (36.5 mi)	368 km²	24.86 m³/s
14		Kir	52 km (32 mi)	261 km²	17 m³/s
15		Valbonë	50.6 km (31.4 mi)	657 km²	33 m³/s
16		Pavllë	50 km (31 mi)	374 km²	6.51 m³/s
17		Bunë	44 km (27 mi)	5,187 km²	320 m³/s
18		Lëngaricë	36.8 km (22.9 mi)	337.1 km²	7.86 m³/s
19		Shalë	35 km (22 mi)	269 km²	33.7 m³/s
20		Kalasë	34 km (21 mi)	258 km²	7.46 m³/s
21		Lanë	28.9 km (18.0 mi)	66.9 km²	242 m³/s
22		Gashi	27 km (17 mi)
23		Bistricë	25 km (16 mi)	189 km²	23.9 m³/s
24		Bënça	15 km (9.3 mi)	188 km²	8.8 m³/s

River Basins

A river basin is the area of land where all the water drains into one main river or lake. Think of it like a giant funnel! Here are the main river basins in Albania. The names in italic mean that the river or lake is not fully in Albania. The text in ... shows the name in Albanian.

Adriatic Sea Basin

Many Albanian rivers flow into the Adriatic Sea.

• Buna – Bunë
  • Great Drin – Drin, Drini
    • White Drin – Drini i Bardhë
    • Black Drin – Drini i Zi
      • Lake Ohrid – Liqeni i Ohrit
    • Valbona
      • Gashi
    • Shala
    • Kir
  • Lake Skadar – Liqeni i Shkodrës
    • Morača – Moraça
      • Cem
      • Mareza
• Gulf of Drin – Gjiri i Drinit
  • Small Drin; see Great Drin above
• Aoös – Vjosë
  • Drino
  • Shushicë
  • Sarantaporos
• Seman
  • Osum
  • Devoll
    • Tomorrica
• Shkumbin
• Mat
  • Fan
• Erzen
• Ishëm
  • Gjole
    • Tërzukë
    • Tiranë
      • Lanë
  • Zezë

Ionian Sea Basin

Some rivers in Albania flow into the Ionian Sea.

• Pavllë
• Bistricë
  • Blue Eye (a special spring) – Syri i Kaltër

Black Sea Basin

A few rivers in Albania are part of the huge Black Sea basin.

• Danube – Danubi
  • Sava
    • Drina
      • Lim

Learn More

• Protected areas of Albania
• Geography of Albania
• Climate of Albania
• Biodiversity of Albania