Albania has ranked as one of the worst-performing countries on the European continent in terms of media literacy.
This is as per the Media Literacy Index for 2021 compiled by the European Policies Initiative of the Open Society Institute in Sofia. It assesses the resilience potential of populations on fak news, drawing on indicators for media freedom, education, and trust in others.
Out of the 35 countries evaluated, only North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina scored worse.
With 22 points out of a possible 100 and ranking 33rd overall, Albania was beaten by Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, Turkey and Romania.
The ranking was based on evaluating data from a range of different sources. For example, it collated the Freedom House Freedom of the Press score (51/100) and the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index score (30.25/100).
It also looked at the PISA reading literacy score as per the OECD. 500 is considered very good and below 300 is poor. Albania scored somewhere in between with 405 points. In terms of scientific literacy and mathematical literacy, measured on the same scale, Albania also scored well with 417 points and 437 points respectively.
Unfortunately, Albanian has a low percentage of the population with university degrees with just 17.6% of the population. This is lower tan the EU average of between 20.9% and 34.6%.
Albanians also scored low in terms of their trust in others. According to data from Eurostat, they have a 2.4 trust rating in others, out of a possible 10.
Finland was top of the list with 78 points. Denmark, Estonia and Sweden came in the following positions, all with scores over 70.
Journalists organizations, activists, and media organizations have been calling for the implementation of media literacy training in schools. This is to help protect populations from the dangers posed by fake news and to encourage critical thinking. So far, no progress has been made.
