Albanians leading as immigrants in Europe

During the dictatorship in Albania, the emigration of Albanians was a phenomenon sanctioned by law, where any attempt was punished with drastic measures, while with the adoption of political pluralism, this phenomenon took on large proportions, becoming a process with major national consequences. From the data that were published some time ago by EUROSTAT, it appears that Albanians are the largest nationality in the EU in terms of the emigration process in relation to the population.

Emigration as a phenomenon of population migration within the framework of demographic processes is not a new phenomenon nor unknown even among Albanians. In relation to this issue, from the time of the installation of the communist dictatorship in Albania in 1944, the free movement of the population and especially emigration to the outside world was a phenomenon prohibited by legal measures. During the dictatorship in Albania, it is known that the people lived in poverty and the country was surrounded by clones and isolated from the world, which was demagogy with national consequences.

The three biblical exodus

After the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, all the countries of the former socialist camp began to fall like towers of paper. And such an echo had a positive impact in Albania as well, where in the beginning of 1990, attempts were made to gather citizens, but also to cross the border by young people both in the north and south of the country, where most of them were stopped by border guards.

The first exodus dates back to July 2, 1990, the first since the end of World War II, known as the “Embassy Phenomenon in Albania”. According to the data, 4975 people were admitted to the accredited embassies in Albania. Of this number, 3554 citizens were placed in the German embassy, 816 in the Italian embassy, 549 in the French embassy and in diplomatic residences in Tirana. Such an action was undoubtedly a big slap in the face for the communist dictatorship in Albania, proving that the dictatorship had failed like everywhere else in the countries of the former socialist camp. All those who were placed in the embassies were then transported through the port of Durrës to the countries where they expressed their desire to go.

From the summer until the end of the year, even though political pluralism was approved in Albania in December, a considerable number of Albanians crossed the border by sea and land, putting themselves at risk because the border guards were mobile. The author of this article is an eyewitness when on December 20, 1990, several citizens were killed in the Buna River and others drowned in the river near the village of Bore. The bodies of five individuals were transported to Podgorica on December 21, but the Albanian Government did not accept them as their citizens, so they were returned and buried in the cemetery of the church of St. Kolli in Shtoj, Ulcinj. There have been similar cases in other border areas with major consequences for various individuals and families. It is even worth mentioning that by the end of the year, around 20.000 Albanians had spent days and weeks traveling on foot to Greece, seeking political asylum.

The final blow to the dictatorship

The second exodus occurred on March 7-10, 1991, where for three days, thousands of Albanians left the country, using ships anchored at the piers of the country's largest ports. It is estimated that around 20.000 Albanian refugees departing from the ports of Vlora and Durrës landed in the southern ports of Italy: Brindisi, Bari, Otranto and Monopoli.

While the third exodus occurred on August 8, 1991 with the ship Vlora, which departed from Durrës with about 10.000–15.000 people on board and arrived at the port of Bari. At the same time, several other ships with about 1.000 people arrived at the port of Otranto. While two other ships with about 675 people tried to disembark in the ports of Sicily and Malta, but could not and were forced to return to Albania.

From the time Albanians entered the embassies on July 2, 1990, until the end of 1991, mass departures by all types of vessels continued. During this unprecedented exodus, it is estimated that around 200.000 Albanians left the country.

Although emigration became a social phenomenon, during the years 1992-1996, it suffered a relative decrease, because there was an improvement in political stability and the socio-economic situation, but data show that at the end of 1996 it reached 350 thousand people. While this phenomenon became massive in 1997, as a result of the collapse of pyramid schemes and the political chaos that accompanied this event.

To have a clearer picture of the number of the emigrant population, we use data from the population census conducted by INSTAT in 2001, where the Albanian population was 3,07 million inhabitants and, if there were no migration, this figure would be 3 million. The difference between these two figures is the approximate number of emigrants, i.e. 78 people.

And from those years onwards, emigration from Albania became a process that is evidenced by various data according to the respective years in European countries and outside them. In this regard, from EUROSTAT, since 2008 we have accurate data which are processed and presented to the public by the media and various individuals.

Albanians – the largest nationality in the EU in relation to population

Thus, according to data from EUROSTAT in 2023, 25 non-EU nationals were registered within the EU, or 27.4 million people, accounting for 6.1% of the EU population. This category was dominated by Ukrainian citizens (11,9%), Turkish (7,7%), Moroccan (7,1%) and Syrian (5,3%). Meanwhile, Chinese citizens (including Hong Kong) and Russians accounted for 3,9% and 3,3% of the total number, respectively.

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On the other hand, Albanians rank ninth with about 2.3% of the total number of foreigners living in the EU, after India (3.2%) and the United Kingdom (2.6%).

There are about 3.2 million Ukrainians and 2.1 million Turks living in EU countries, according to EUROSTAT data, ranking first in number. But immigrants from both of these countries come from countries with large populations, where Turkey has 87 million inhabitants and Ukraine 39 million inhabitants, making immigrants in relation to their respective populations only 2.4% and 8.4%.

According to EUROSTAT, there are about 630 Albanians living in the EU (data does not include Greece). This is equivalent to 26% of the population living in Albania, ranking us first in the EU in terms of population. If we add those living in Greece, which are at least 400 people, the figure exceeds 40%.

Kosovo also ranks high, ranking second for citizens living in the EU, relative to their respective population, with 25.7%. The Western Balkans continue to lead, with North Macedonia at 19.6% and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 17.3%. and others.

Since 2008, 920 Albanians have obtained residence permits.

Other data from EUROSTAT revealed that in 2023, around 75 thousand residence permits were issued to Albanian citizens from EU countries.

In 2022-2023, a total of 154 thousand residence permits were granted for the first time. Since 2008, when EUROSTAT reports the data, around 920 thousand Albanian citizens have received a residence permit for the first time. As for those who have not obtained such a permit, it remains an open issue because there is no evidence from the Government of Albania, therefore any data is approximate and can be speculated.

Such emigration has caused Albania's population to suffer a significant decline, where according to the population census held in 2023, according to INSTAT, 2.4 million inhabitants live in the country, a decrease of 420 thousand people, compared to 2011.

The population in the country drops to 2.36 million inhabitants!

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While the latest data related to the population of Albania is dated January 1, 2025, according to INSTAT, it results that 2.363.314 inhabitants live in Albania, decreasing by 1.2% compared to January 1, 2024. The population decline is the result of two main demographic components: emigration and the decline in births, a phenomenon which has become worrying and with national consequences.

In the absence of a general record of Albanians by any government entity, any data is subjective, so the approach to the Albanian diaspora must be changed. To eliminate the dilemmas regarding this issue, a serious commitment is needed, mainly from the diplomatic missions of Albania and Kosovo, separately or together in coordination with other government entities. Only in this way would we have accurate record of data on Albanians in emigration, as is done everywhere in the democratic world, eliminating speculation and prejudices regarding the number of Albanians in emigration in different countries of the world.