According to a report released by EU statistical agency Eurostat, the EU deported 226,150 illegal immigrants from its territory in 2016, the highest number since data recording started in 2008.
Almost 1 in 5 illegal immigrants were from Albania. In total 42,600 Albanians were repatriated. Albania is followed by Ukraine (22,600), Iraq (17,100), Kosovo (13,000), Serbia (12,200), and Morocco (9,900).
In February, Amnesty International already reported that 20,000 Albanians had sought asylum in the EU during 2016. The EU, however, only accepted 3% of them, sending the rest back to the country.
The government of Prime Minister Edi Rama has systematically denied any emigration problem, which is mainly caused by economic hardship and the lack of perspectives, especially in the rural areas of the country. In April, Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb declared that he would visit Albania to discuss the immigration problem.
