Nearly 250,000 Albanians have been provided with regular residence documentation in one of the European Union countries after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eurostat data on immigration and residence permits issued by EU member states list Albanians at the top of the list of foreign citizens who were granted residence permits from 2021 to 2024.
The figures confirm the wave of migration that accompanied the return of free movement, blocked for almost 18 months due to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the total number of Albanians who have left the country during this period is even higher because Eurostat data does not include Albanians who have emigrated to countries outside the EU, such as the USA, Canada, or the UK.
Eurostat says that in total, since 2008, over 1 million residence permits have been granted by European Union countries to Albanian citizens, or almost a third of the country's population in 1990, or 40 percent of Albania's current population.