FLASH
Shkruar nga Eduard Zaloshnja
If emigration continues at the current rate, after five years, we will have more Albanian citizens outside Albania than inside it (currently 43% are emigrating).
At the end of 1989 - before the barbed wire was removed from Albania's borders - there were 3.21 million Albanian citizens in the civil registry. Of these, according to the population census that was carried out at the time, 99% lived inside the country - only 32 thousand citizens turned out to be immigrants (political or economic).
At the end of 2023, there were 4.65 million Albanian citizens in the civil registry. Of these, according to a rough statistical estimate I made based on a rigorous field survey, about 57% lived inside the country. So, about 2 million resulted in emigration.
What are the stages of the increase in the number of immigrants from 0.03 million in 1989 to 2 million by the end of 2023?
The 90s marked a biblical exodus of Albanians to Italy, Greece, and other countries. As a result, in 2001 we had almost 1 million Albanian citizens abroad - in the civil registry there were almost 4 million Albanian citizens, while from the population census at the end of 2001, the total number of inhabitants was 3 million.
In the second decade of democracy, the exodus of Albanians continued, but no longer with biblical proportions - the number of Albanian citizens abroad increased from 1 million in 2001 to 1.5 million in 2011 (0.5 million were added). Specifically, in the civil registry there were 4.3 million Albanian citizens, while from the population census at the end of 2011, the total number of inhabitants was 2.8 million.
Even in the third decade of democracy, the exodus of Albanians continued, but it was equal to that of the previous decade - the number of Albanian citizens abroad increased from 1.5 million in 2011 to 2 million in 2023 (0.5 million were added) . Specifically, at the end of the year, there were 4.65 million Albanian citizens in the civil registry. While from a rough statistical estimate I made (based on a rigorous field survey last fall), it turned out that about 2.65 million of these citizens lived in the country.
From the immigration curve from decade to decade (see the accompanying graph), it can be concluded that the pace of immigration has slowed down compared to the first decade of the great exodus, but it still remains worrying about the country's depopulation. If emigration continues at the current rate, after five years, we will have more Albanian citizens outside Albania than inside it (currently 43% are emigrating).
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