The inhabitants of the country
According to the state, 95% of the population is Albanian. Yet Albania is like all the other Balkan countries: it's a mosaic of peoples. Minorities may account for 20-30% of the country's inhabitants.
The Albanians. They call themselves Shqiptarë (pronounced "chip-tar-eu", a word whose root means "rock" or "eagle") and claim to be descendants of the Illyrians, a people who settled in the Balkans around the 1st millennium BC. It wasn't until the 13th century that Shqipëria ("land of eagles") took on the Latin name of Albania, inherited from the Illyrian Albanoi tribe. As a result of interbreeding with neighboring peoples and invaders, the Albanians belong to either Islam (around 60% of the population) or Christianity. But the unifying factor is Albanian, an isolated Indo-European language probably derived from Illyrian. Albanians are, however, divided into groups, each with its own dialect. The two main groups are the Tosques and the Guègues. The former are settled south of the Shkumbin river. They are marked by a strong Byzantine and Ottoman heritage. Their dialect is the basis for standard Albanian. The Guegues, who live in northern Albania, retain strong Catholic traditions even though they are predominantly Muslim.
The Chams. Ethnically Albanian, the Chams are estimated to number between 80,000 and 200,000 in the country. Speaking a dialect close to Tuscan, they originate from Epirus (or Chameria), a region straddling Greece and Albania. After the Second World War, a large proportion of Greece's Muslim Chams were expelled under the pretext of collaboration with the Nazis, then communist activism. The Chams are demanding the right to return and settle in Greece.
The Greeks. They number over 200,000, mainly in the south, from Vlora to Korça. The state downplays their numbers to 25,000. But it grants them minority status, with Greek-language education in certain localities. Descendants of ancient settlers and Greek Orthodox, the Greeks are in the majority in several villages on the "Albanian Riviera", with Himara as their stronghold. While relations between Greeks and Albanians are relatively peaceful, politically, it is the cross-border region of Epirus that has been at stake between Athens and Tirana since 1912.
Slavs. Estimates vary from a few thousand for the State to 150,000 according to some NGOs. The Slavs of Albania arrived in the 6th century and are divided into several distinct entities. Only one group is officially recognized: the "Macedonians". Speaking Slavo-Macedonian, they are descendants of the Bulgarians, who are the main ethnic group in North Macedonia. More Muslim in the north-east and Orthodox in the south-east, they are thought to number between 4,000 and 15,000, spread around lakes Prespa and Ohrid. The same region is also home to the Pomaks, or Islamicized Bulgarians. Estimated at a few hundred by Tirana, they number over 50,000 according to Sofia. Counted together, Serbs and Montenegrins number around 2,000 living near Shkodra. Orthodox, they speak Serbo-Croatian. Bosnians, who speak the same language but are Muslims, number around 1,000 in the Durrës region. Finally, there are the Gorani. There are around a thousand of them in Shishtavec, near Kosovo. Like the Pomaks, they are Muslims originally from Bulgaria, but differ from them in their language, Goranski (or Našinski).
The Aroumains. Also known as the Vlachs, this Latin people are scattered throughout the southern Balkans. In Albania, they are recognized as a minority. They number around 100,000, mainly in the south, about half of whom still speak Aromanian. The most likely hypotheses are that they are descendants of Roman settlers or Romanized Greek populations. But they are considered "Romanian" by Bucharest, even if they don't speak Romanian. The Aroumains of Albania established important trade routes, making Moscopole (near Korça) the richest town in the region in the 18th century. The Aroumains feel close to the Greeks: they are Orthodox and often speak Greek.
Roma. They number between 100,000 and 150,000 in Albania. These figures need to be qualified, as Roma are rarely registered with the civil registry. They are also frequently confused with other ethnic groups. Arriving from India, they are thought to have settled in the Myzeqe plain in the 15th century. Islamized, the Roma continue to speak Romani. Forced to settle in the 1960s, they benefited little from the Communist education system. After the fall of the regime, they were the main victims of the shift to capitalism, with illiteracy and unemployment rates exceeding 60%. Most often living in shantytowns, the Roma are, according to NGOs, the main victims of human trafficking in Albania.
Ashkali and Balkan-Egyptians. Totaling some 3,500 people in Albania, these two peoples are often equated with the Roma or referred to as "Jevgs". Also present in Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Northern Macedonia, they have everywhere adopted Islam and the local majority language. Balkan-Egyptians claim to originate from ancient Egypt. The Ashkali, on the other hand, may be descended from Persians who arrived in ancient times via the Palestinian port of Ashkelon. The question of their identity has been complicated by their "Albanization", but also by the term "Ashkali" used by the Ottomans to designate the nomadic peoples of the Balkans. Although still poorly understood, some researchers believe that these two ethnic groups form a single entity.
The Jews. There are now no more than a hundred of them. But Albania is a special case in the history of the Shoah. The first traces of Judaism appeared in Saranda in the5th century. In the 12th century, Sephardim settled in Berat, Durrës, Vlora and Elbasan. The community expanded in 1492 when the Ottoman Empire welcomed Jews expelled from Spain. From the 1930s onwards, Albania became a refuge for Ashkenazim, initially under the impetus of King Zog, who granted visas to German Jews. Then the Italians refused to hand over to Hitler the Jews present in the Albanian-speaking territories under their control. After the fall of Mussolini, the Nazis entered Albania. In April 1944, around 400 German and Austrian Jews were rounded up in Durrës and Tirana and sent to the death camps. The rest of the community was saved thanks to the solidarity of the local population. Around 2,000 Jews survived in Albania, the only country in occupied Europe to see its Jewish population grow during the war. A large part of the community emigrated at the end of 1944, while the others found themselves trapped in Albania by Enver Hoxha's dictatorship. In 1992, the latter moved to Israel, but some returned to Albania in the following years.
Turks and Italians. Both the Ottoman Empire and Fascist Italy established settlements in Albania. While there are still Turks in Kosovo and Greece, here they seem to have assimilated with the Albanians. As for the Italian settlers, they became part of the Albanian population after the Second World War. But their descendants left Albania in 1992. Today, ties with the two former occupying powers remain strong, and there is a significant influx of Turkish and Italian investors.
Foreigners. Historically, foreigners have been few and far between. Since 1992, Albania has mainly welcomed diplomats, development workers, members of NGOs and religious missionaries. In all, some 15,000 people, very few of whom have settled here permanently. Of the 300-400 French nationals living in Albania, only around one hundred are true immigrants. What's more, while the rest of the Balkans has been welcoming large numbers of refugees since the "migrant crisis" in 2015, Albania has remained aloof from this population flow. A new phenomenon, however, is the settlement of foreign workers in Tirana. For the time being, there are only a few hundred of them, from Sri Lanka and Nigeria. But this trend is set to accelerate. The massive exodus of Albanians since 1991 has left the country short of skilled workers, particularly in the IT sector.
Albanians outside Albania
There are more than 10 million Albanian speakers outside Albania. In relation to the country's population, this represents one of the world's largest diasporas. In addition to large communities in Turkey and Greece, two neighbouring countries also have Albanian as their official language: Kosovo and Northern Macedonia.
Kosovo. This former Serbian province is the nation with the highest proportion of Albanians: today, they account for 90% of Kosovo's 1.8 million inhabitants. The situation is complicated, as Europe's youngest state was born in 2008 out of a war (1998-1999) and is recognized by only part of the international community. The historic heartland of the Serbian nation, Kosovo has been predominantly populated by Albanians since the late 19th century, when they were expelled from northern Serbia when the Ottomans retreated. Kosovo Albanians are traditionally Muslim (95%), with a minority of Catholics (3%). As in Albania, however, standard Albanian is the official language, alongside Serbo-Croatian. Kosovo Serbs now account for just 5% of the population. Pristina and Tirana are considering the creation of a common state. However, Albanians from the two countries rarely rub shoulders, except in summer, when Kosovars invade Albanian beaches.
Northern Macedonia. Albanians account for around a third of the 2.1 million inhabitants of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which changed its name to North Macedonia in 2019. On this occasion, after years of tension, including a mini civil war in 2001, standard Albanian was recognized as the national language alongside Slavo-Macedonian. Of Bulgarian origin, "Macedonians" or "Slavo-Macedonians" make up around 60% of the population. The Albanian minority lives mainly in Skopje and in regions close to Albania, Kosovo and Serbia. Relations between Tirana and Skopje are warm, but Albanians from both countries know little about each other.
Greece. Over a million Albanians live in Greece, making up almost 10% of the population. There are two distinct communities. The most numerous are the Albanians, who arrived en masse from 1991 onwards. Initially poorly accepted, this predominantly Muslim population of 900,000 has nevertheless integrated well. While contributing to Greece's economic boom, these exiles have above all enabled the country to maintain its demographic stability. Albanian children born in Greece now enjoy Greek nationality. The other Albanian community in Greece is much older. It is made up of Avranites and Chams. The former, of Orthodox faith, began settling in the 13th century. Avranites made up the majority of the population in some cities, such as Athens in the early 19th century. Their participation in the War of Independence (1821-1832) earned them full Greek citizenship. Today, they number around 200,000, but only a minority still speak Arvanite, a dialect close to Toscan. There are also 40,000 Orthodox Chams who were not expelled from Southern Epirus. Officially, Tirana and Athens have been at war since Mussolini's attempted invasion of Greece in 1940. But the two countries maintain almost normal relations, occasionally upset by the claims of Albania's Greeks and Chams.
Serbia. Some 50,000 Albanians have settled in southern Serbia since ancient times. Mostly Muslim, they are demanding to be attached to Kosovo. There is a strong anti-Serb sentiment in Albania. However, Tirana and Belgrade have been forging closer ties since 2014, with the creation of a common market with Northern Macedonia in 2021.
Montenegro. This community of around 30,000 (5% of the population) is based mainly around the coastal town of Ulcinj(Ulqin in Albanian), near Shkodra. Divided between Muslims (73%) and Catholics (26%), they are the country's fourth largest ethnic group, behind the Montenegrins, Serbs and Bosnians. They have state schools and maintain close ties with Albania.
Italy. Southern Italy is home to 260,000 Arbëresh. They are the descendants of Catholic Albanians from Greece and Albania who fled the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. They have preserved their traditions and their language, an ancient Albanian that has not been influenced by Turkish. In the 1990s, Italy was the second-largest host country for Albanians after Greece, with around 400,000 arriving.
Turkey. Heir to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey is home to the largest Albanian community: between 1.5 and 4 million people still speak the language. Their ancestors are Muslim Albanians who left the Balkans in the 19th century. Once considered the province most loyal to the Ottomans, Albania maintains close ties with Ankara.
Egypt. There are 10,000 Albanians spread between Cairo and Alexandria. Most are descendants of the 18th-century Janissaries, the elite corps of the Ottoman army. The Orthodox majority have blended into Egypt's Greek diaspora, while the Muslim Albanians seem to have integrated into the Arab population. Moreover, it was Mehemet Ali, an Albanian from Kavala (Greece), who founded modern Egypt in the 19th century.
Other countries. Present in the Balkans since antiquity, Albanians today number 10,000 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania, around 4,000 in Croatia and Slovenia, and fewer than 500 in Bulgaria. In the West, the diaspora numbers 1 million in the USA, 350,000 in Germany and 250,000 in Canada. Among Europe's French-speaking countries, the largest Albanian-speaking minority is to be found in Switzerland, with 250,000 people, mostly Kosovars. There are also 31,000 Albanians in Belgium and 28,000 in France, with a concentration in Saint-Étienne.
