Emigration
83% of Albanians want to leave their country, according to a survey published in 2023 by the Regional Cooperation Council, the European Union's agency for Balkan integration. In fact, some 80,000 people leave Albania every year. Of these, 70% choose France and the UK. According to the Regional Cooperation Council, the main reasons for this massive exodus are the cost of living, unemployment and lack of educational prospects.
Poverty
With an average net salary of €700 per capita in 2024, Albania is the fourth poorest country in Europe, behind Ukraine, Moldavia and Northern Macedonia. Yet it still boasts a relatively high growth rate: +4.8% in 2022, +3.6% in 2023, +3.3% in 2024. But this only benefits part of the population. In 2022, the World Bank estimated that 22% of Albanians were living below the poverty line, compared with an EU average of 10%. Some 14% of Albanians live on less than €7 a day. Around half of the working population is employed in agriculture, although this sector accounts for only 21% of GDP. Unemployment is expected to be around 11% in 2024. But this figure hides, once again, profound inequalities: among 18-34 year-olds, it exceeds 50%.
Mafia
The term "Albanian mafia"(Mafia Shqiptare) refers to the local criminal organizations that have sprung up since 1990. Some fifteen clans or families are said to be involved in various illegal trades on an international scale. Their weight in the national economy, though difficult to estimate, is considerable. Since the mid-2010s, a number of institutions and the media have emphasized that Albania has become "Europe's leading narco-state". Not only is it the continent's leading marijuana-producing country, but the Albanian mafia now controls the majority of drug networks: marijuana from North Africa, cocaine from South America, heroin from Central Asia and synthetic drugs. The mafia is also heavily involved in human trafficking, with smuggling and prostitution networks throughout Europe.
Crime and corruption
Despite the weight of the Mafia, which is said to support around 20% of the country's population, the crime rate is relatively low. However, the homicide rate is on the rise. In 2022, it stood at 2.1 per 100,000 inhabitants: twice as high as in France, but as high as in Canada or Belgium. More opaque is the weight of corruption. Moneyval, the Council of Europe's committee of anti-corruption experts, is concerned about the laissez-faire attitude of local authorities, particularly when it comes to money laundering. For locals and foreign observers alike, there is little doubt that the Albanian mafia's dirty money has enabled the construction of Tirana's high-rise buildings in recent years. In the process, large sums of money have been used to corrupt politicians right up to the very top of the state.
Birth rate and ageing
The fertility rate, long one of the highest in Europe, is steadily falling. Whereas it was 6.46 children per woman in 1960 and 2.90 in 1990, it now stands at less than 1.40. This is due to a number of factors, mainly poverty and the virtual absence of childcare facilities. The low birth rate combined with high emigration means that the country's population is falling: 3.3 million in 1990, compared with 2.8 million today. In all cities except Tirana, the population is in decline. Admittedly, this decline is now easing. But with life expectancy on the rise (72 years today, compared with 54 in 1960), and with young people in particular leaving the country, there is a worrying ageing of the population: between 2020 and 2050, the proportion of over-65s is set to rise from 15% to 26%. So, while tourism is growing fast, the sector is now facing a skilled labor shortage. As a result, hoteliers are planning to call on foreign workers during the high season.
Foreign interference
Italy exports its waste to Albania. But also its... migrants! Since 2024, Rome and Tirana have ratified an agreement for Albania to take in 36,000 migrants intercepted by Italian services in the Adriatic and Ionian seas. The Italian government is financing two "transit" camps in Shengjin and near Lezha. Another camp, another place and another form of foreign interference: since 2018, at Manëz, near Durrës, the Albanian state has been hosting 3,000 members of the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), an armed resistance movement against the Islamic regime in Tehran, at the request of the United States. Turkey, China and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf are also very receptive to the authorities in Tirana, who readily accept investments and funding that are not always transparent and rarely devoid of hegemonic ulterior motives.
Greater Albania
The project of a Shqipëria Etnike, a unification of "ethnically Albanian" territories, looms like a threat over the Balkans. Since Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008, Tirana and Pristina have strengthened their ties a little more each year. Almost entirely emptied of its Serbian population, the neighboring country has become the second state with an Albanian majority. Initially, in order to meet EU entry requirements, Albania and Kosovo insisted on respecting their borders. But as the prospect of European integration grew ever more remote, the leaders of both countries stepped up their declarations in favor of unification. Now, while Kosovar lorries already have unrestricted access to the port of Durres, Pristina and Tirana are setting up a joint diplomatic network and education system. A project to elect a single president for both countries is also under study. More or less supported by the United States, this unification is a cause for concern for Greece, Montenegro and Northern Macedonia, who fear that Tirana will now lay claim to the territories inhabited by Albanian minorities in these 3 countries.
