More than 1.64 million Albanians, or 36 percent of the population live abroad, according to government data from 2019.
In July 2020, the government adopted the National Diaspora Strategy 2021-2025. Exit News brings some of the main findings included in it.
– The great majority of Albanian emigrants have settled in Greece (677 thousand) and Italy (523 thousand). The United States has become home to 83 thousand Albanians, and Germany to 15 thousand.
– The number of Albanian emigrants worldwide increased by 3.6 percent in 2019.
– In 2019, 83.7 percent of Albanians emigrated to find employment, 9 percent for family reunification, 3.5 percent for education, 3.8 percent for other reasons.
– Albanians are integrated in societies where they live, both economically and politically. They play an important role in local politics, running and being to political positions at local level.
– 142 Albanian-Italians run in 2019 local elections in Italy, 17 in Belgium, 4 in the US and 2 in Germany.
– Annual remittances in 2019 reached $1.5 billion, or 10% of the GDP, according to World Bank data.
