Albania's nuclear bomb!

By Lutfi Dervishi

If we think that the problems we have are corruption, unemployment, contested elections, (un)drinkable water, lack of justice, or brain drain, we are ignoring the drama that is eroding the foundations of the country: the aging population.

According to the latest data, the country has officially entered the list of the 11 oldest countries in Europe. The average age today is 44.3 years, while in 2010 it was 31.9. The pace of aging is extraordinary: 12.4 years in just 14 years, four times more than the average for EU countries.

In a continent that has itself been struggling with aging for decades, Albania is not just aging… but emptying. It is not emptying itself.

French President Charles de Gaulle once said: "Demography makes history, not the other way around." And if history is our guide, then we are following a course that leads not to the EU, but to a void with fatal consequences. A house that does not breathe decays.

Who will pay the pensions?

Who will keep the healthcare system alive?

Who will work the land, open businesses, keep the language, the cities, the neighborhoods alive?

Who will vote? Who will ensure the future, the continuity? And most importantly: who will represent us?

If democracy works on the principle of representation, then in the absence of young people, we will have a system that works for the elderly. The signs are clear: in the campaign, the main promise was to increase pensions.

We have returned to a country where the majority of the retiree generation decides about the future of the younger generation.

Instead of nurseries, kindergartens, and schools, we will increasingly talk about building asylums.

And we will end up in gerontocracy very soon.

This crisis is social, economic and political. But surprisingly, the crisis is not articulated. No sociologist, no demographer, no university professor is raising their voice properly. The ministries are silent. The Academy of Sciences is silent. Even business, which should be on alert for the lack of labor, is behaving as if everything will be solved with some tender or PPP to bring immigrants from Asia.

This is not just a lack of attention, it is a collective suicide attempt. Coincidence? If aging is unstoppable, abandonment can be stopped. Instead of a policy and propaganda based on projections and statistical calculations, for the number of tourists that increases compared to 2013, we need a social and political shake-up.

A national pact for demographic renewal, with the participation of all actors; the state, civil society, universities and business, accompanied by social policies for the return of young immigrants and for the stimulation of fertility would be a good start. Hungary's policies in this direction (or any country that has succeeded in this area) should be carefully considered and implemented without wasting time. The baby bonus seems not to have yielded the expected results.

The development model: all of Albania in Tirana is emptying cities and villages. The demographic balance of the country has been disrupted. It is necessary to restore the dignity of life in the country, in cities and especially in the countryside. This means sustainable development and not facades and figures with millions of tourists visiting the country

If the country continues to age at this rate and with this silence, then we no longer have any future to plan for. The year 2030 risks finding us with a stick "towards the EU", if it is still standing.

Today we are not lacking numbers. The numbers are screaming, but the voice is missing.

It is a paradox that a country that is deafened by propaganda lacks the cry for life.

Perhaps for the first time in many decades, Albania's most dangerous enemy is not corruption, but the biological clock.

For three decades the keyword has been "democracy", now it is: "demography", tomorrow it will be asphyxia?