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Albanians perceive economic inequality much higher than official indicators

Politiko 2025-04-29 08:39:46

From the perspective of citizens, economic inequality in the Region and in Albania is higher than official measurements, the World Bank highlighted in its regular spring economic report for the Balkan Region.

In Albania, for example, the GINI coefficient that measures the inequality indicator is 36.0 (where 0 means total equality, where everyone has the same income, up to 100 maximum inequality, where a single person owns everything), but 82.2% of citizens perceive high inequality which is increasing.

In Kosovo, the GINI coefficient is 29.0, while 54.8% of the population perceives high inequality.

In Montenegro, the objective measure is 34.4, but the perception of inequality reaches 49.6%. In North Macedonia, the measure is 33.6, while the perception reaches 82.9%. In Serbia, the GINI index is 33.1, while 67% of the population feels that inequality has increased. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the GINI index is 28.8, while the perception is 64.4%.

The Bank is concerned that perceptions of inequality not only remain high, but are believed to be worsening. Around two-thirds of the population in the region believe that the gap between rich and poor has widened over the past four years. In Albania and North Macedonia, over 80% of respondents share this belief.

Factors such as growing insecurity in the labor market, the spread of illegal forms of employment, polarization of the labor market, and intergenerational inequalities, where young people face greater challenges, are contributing to the increase in inequality.

With the exception of North Macedonia, a relatively high percentage of respondents in the countries of the region are willing to contribute financially to narrowing this gap.

Economic inequalities are perceived to be increasing in the Western Balkan countries (WB6), even though poverty levels are decreasing. There is a widespread perception among citizens that the gap between the rich and the poor is too wide and needs to be reduced.

Citizens' perception of inequality in the Western Balkans contrasts with the GINI coefficient which is generally 40, a level that, according to the World Bank, is not classified as high inequality by international standards.

The countries of the region, and especially Albania, are dominated by economic stability, with stable growth, reductions in fiscal deficits, public debt, etc., but on the other hand, developments in the real economy show an unequal distribution of economic growth.

As the economy grows, the number of people suffering from some form of relative poverty and social exclusion in Albania includes almost half of the population./MONITOR