Young people are leaving Albania / 62% of emigrants are under 35, young families are also departing

Albania continues to suffer from a population hemorrhage even after more than 30 years of transition, with the departure of young people dominating the trend. Data from Eurostat show that in 2024 alone, around 44,000 Albanians emigrated to European Union countries.

In the four years following the pandemic, from 2021 to 2024, at least 180,000 people left the country. These figures do not include data from Greece or the United Kingdom, the latter of which experienced a wave of departures that peaked in 2022. Emigration rates accelerated after the pandemic.

Eurostat has also published detailed data by age group for those who left Albania in 2024. According to calculations by “Monitor,” the dominance of young people is evident. The main group leaving is aged 25–29, with over 6,000 individuals, or 14.3% of the total. They are followed by those aged 30–34, who account for 13% of the total.

A strong phenomenon is also the departure of young families with small children, as the under-15 age group made up nearly 18% of those who left.

In total, 62% of those who emigrated in 2024 were under the age of 35. A significant and experienced segment of the labor market is also choosing to leave, with the 35–49 age group accounting for 20% of departures. Historical data from INSTAT show that the age of emigrants is decreasing. For example, in 2019, the main age group emigrating was 30–34, representing 15.6% of the total.

The departure of young people is one of the main reasons why the median age (which divides the population in half) has been rising much faster than in the European Union. Other Eurostat data indicate that Albania had a median age of 44.3 years in 2025, very close to the European average of 44.9 years.

In 2015, the median age was 34.7 years. This means that in 2025, half of the population was under 44.3 years old, whereas 10 years earlier Albania was much younger, with half of the population under 34.7 years old.

The departure of people of reproductive age, along with lifestyle changes, has led to a sharp decline in births in recent years. Albania is experiencing one of the deepest demographic crises in its modern history. The latest figures for 2025 show a drastic 74% drop in the number of births compared to the early 1990s, when Albania recorded a peak of 82,125 births. Thirty-five years later, this number has fallen to a critical level of 21,425 births.

The main factors fueling this trend are the progressive aging of the population, the continued high rate of youth emigration, and a decline in the fertility rate to just 1.21 children per woman.

This shift in the family model, combined with the emigration of the reproductive workforce to the EU, has placed the country before an existential challenge that is not being taken seriously by the government. On the contrary, the government continues to promote the narrative that emigration has stopped and that returns now dominate, when in fact the opposite is happening.

INSTAT data on net migration, which measures the difference between those who return and those who leave, remain negative, with those leaving accounting for more than double the number of returnees. In 2024, net migration reached around -43,761 people, the highest level recorded, partly due to adjustments from the 2023 census. In 2025, although lower, the figure remained very high, at around -28,836 people.