Albania is amongst four countries in Europe that have seen their populations fall the most when compared to the 90s, decreasing to 2.79 million today with a reduction of 15%.
Eurostat published an analysis of population decline in European countries and found that Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia were those that suffered the most.
The data shows that between 1960 and 1991, Albania’s population doubled and reached almost 3.3 million people. But after that, it started declining due to high levels of emigration and the ageing of the population.
In 2020-2021, the population also decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic which saw the number of deaths increased over the average by at least 13,000. The situation is also exacerbated by a low number of births.
The population in Montenegro decreased by 2.4%, Serbia by 11%, North Macedonia by 3% and Kosovo by 10.2%.
Albania is one of the few countries in the world where there are more Albanians living outside the country, than inside. It is also one of the country’s with the highest rate of asylum seekers in Europe, as well as other forms of migration.
