Emigration, which has continued at a constant pace in the last 30 years and will likely continue with the same intensity in the next decade, is adversely affecting the quality of the population in Albania.
INSTAT data on immigration in 2020 show that, of the total number of immigrants of about 1.7 million people, the majority are young people.
As can be seen from the attached graph, the age of 20 out of 40 dominates the emigrating population and constitutes 46 percent of the total emigrants.
Above the age group of 45, the emigrating population decreases. Other surveys on emigration potentials show the high tendency of young people at a young age to immigrate compared to other ages.
A study by experts Gëdeshi and King has identified that 70 percent of 20-year-olds wanted to leave the country in 2018. This desire to leave the country is higher among young people than other age groups. The causes are related to a series of social and economic factors, says Gëdeshi.
The Albanian Institute of Statistics has reported that last year 25.5 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 were neither in school nor at work. The 2018-2019 Youth Study of the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) shows that the potential to emigrate in the 15-29 age group is around 60%.
The desire of young people to flee abroad is higher than in the general population, where according to the Balkan barometer, half of the respondents in Albania, regardless of age, report that they would like to live away from the country last year.
After the 2011 Census, migration continues to play a very important role in population dynamics. Albania continues and will continue to experience population outflows, just as population projections suggest.
In 2019, in the total average population of Albania, young people aged 0-14 years account for 17,0%, the population of working age 15-64 years accounts for 68,5% and the population over 65 years of age constitutes 14,4% of the total population. The population pyramid, which gives a representation of the age and gender structure of the population, reflects the trend of developments that have occurred for the age group in question. The tendency towards the aging process of the population in the future is observed by the slight increase in the proportion occupied by the population aged 65 and over, accompanied by the decrease in the number of the population at a young age (0-14 years).
Albanian emigration has been dominated by economic factors. Economic reasons have been and continue to be the ones that push the majority of Albanians to leave the country. According to the 2019 Labor Force Survey, the main reason for leaving Albania is “Employment opportunities” with 83,7%.
