Even after three decades, there is still hope in immigration, a world record in relation to population

Albania has experienced three major waves of emigration. When the country emerged from dictatorship in the early 1990s, it was among the poorest countries in the world. Hopes were high in a small but resource-rich country that was showing endless potential.

Someone found their way through emigration, with the first wave of 1990-2000 seeing the departure of 600-650 thousand people (figure based on natural increase and 1989-2001 Census data).

In a country where the natural increase was 40-60 thousand people per year, this wave had little impact on the total population, which decreased by only 100 thousand people in the first decade after the transition.

Emigration continued, with around 500,000 emigrants in the period 2001-2011, but the natural increase continued to be between 15-20,000 people per year, causing the population to be reduced by around 300,000 people in the second decade of transition.

The third decade of transition found the country in a more favorable position. The country was no longer the same as it was in the early 1990s, local businesses had strengthened, foreign enterprises were showing interest, salaries were increasing, and the process of integration into the European Union was increasingly being discussed.

But, again, the country's development model inspired very little. High corruption, waste of public funds, a weak education system, a health service that forced the highest out-of-pocket payments in Europe, and low salaries that reflected a weak, uncompetitive economy, caused a vital force like that of the youth to flee the country.

Entire middle-class families, whose expectations for life were very different from what reality offered them, also left. In the period 2012-2023, it turns out that about 500,000 people left the country.

But, with natural increase having almost gone to zero in recent years, the population decline was at record levels with 400 thousand fewer people, leaving 2.4 million Albanians.

About 1.6 million people who have fled in three decades, for a population that in 1989 numbered 3.2 million, are a silent protest against a government that failed to inspire hope, encouraging emigration of abnormal proportions.

The latest Eurostat data shows that emigration continues. In 2022-2023 alone, almost 100 thousand emigrants from Albania to European Union countries were registered, while residence permits increased again for the first time in 2022-2023 by over 70 thousand per year.

The pace at which Albanians continue to leave is alarming for a country that has already lost half of its population, setting a record in Europe, even higher than countries where residents flee due to wars and civil conflicts.

Eurostat data for 2023 shows that in relation to population, Albanian citizens were the first to obtain citizenship, with 18.3 per 1,000 inhabitants, much higher than conflict-ridden Syria (4) and Morocco (2.8).

A survey conducted at the end of last year on the "Monitor" website, where over 1,000 people responded, found that Albanians are no longer leaving just for more income, but are looking for a quality of life that they are apparently unable to find in Albania.

Beyond the facade of a country that is rising every day, the respondents, most of whom have higher and postgraduate education, said that the main reason for leaving is the lack of prospects for the future and high living standards./ Monitor