Population over 65 years old, Albania with the strongest growth in Europe from 2015 to 2025

Albania is turning into a large “retirement home,” as the share of people over 65 compared to the working-age population (15–64 years old) is increasing at very rapid rates, unlike anything experienced by any other European country.

The latest Eurostat data on demographic trends in Europe over the past decade (2015–2025) place Albania at the top of the list for the increase in the share of elderly people compared to the workforce.

In 2015, the population over 65 in Albania accounted for about 18.2% of the total working-age population (15–64), a figure that classified the country as relatively young compared to the European Union average or countries such as Italy and Germany. By 2025, the population aged over 65 had reached 33.3% of the working-age population.

Between 2015 and 2025, Albania ranks first in Europe for the highest increase in the percentage of people aged over 65 relative to the working-age population. Within just one decade, the share of elderly people compared to the working-age population increased dramatically by 15.1 percentage points, surpassing every other country monitored in this list.

Meanwhile, countries such as Moldova and North Macedonia are also experiencing significant growth in this age group, but remain behind Albania, with increases of 14.1 and 10.7 percentage points respectively.

Due to the demographic crisis, Albania has experienced a sharp rise in the median age of the population. In 2015, the median age (which divides the population into two equal halves) was 34.7 years.

This means that in 2025, half of the population was under 44.3 years old, whereas ten years earlier Albania was much younger, with half of the population below 34.7 years of age.

While Europe needed several decades to enter a phase of population aging, Albania has undergone this transformation in just one decade. From 2015 to 2025, the country’s median age increased by 9.6 years — the fastest pace on the continent — compared to the European average increase of 2.1 years during the same period.

This phenomenon of accelerated aging in Albania is attributed to a combination of factors, such as the massive emigration of young people and the continuous decline in the birth rate.

Unlike developed countries such as Sweden or Luxembourg, where the increase in median age is much slower and more controlled, Albania is aging rapidly without having the economic strength to support this change.

The data clearly show that Albania is not simply facing a natural aging process, but a demographic crisis that requires urgent intervention. If in 2015 Albania was among the youngest countries, by 2025 it ranks at a similar level to older European nations, but with far fewer resources to cope with this new reality.

“KORÇA BOOM”