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The paradox of our days: We live better, but we are unhappy

2026-05-10 18:32:59Pikëpamje SHKRUAR NGA ÇAPAJEV GJOKUTAJ
Chapaev Gjokutaj

After the 1990s, we have made a historic leap forward. We have gained fundamental freedoms, borders have opened, infrastructure has improved, and living standards have risen. Opportunities for entrepreneurship and individual choice are much greater. However, collective dissatisfaction remains high. This contrast between objective improvement and subjective disappointment is a sign of rapid, yet chaotic and unfinished modernization.

Today we seek and aim for Western standards, efficient institutions, meritocracy and stability. But reality moves slower than our desires and expectations and this clash brings disappointment. The totalitarian regime was repressive, but predictable, the opposite happens with democracy: it is free, but unpredictable. There is also a plus factor that makes dissatisfaction more perceptible: the constant comparison with the West, a comparison fueled by social networks, the diaspora and travel.

The standard of living has increased, but inequalities have increased at a much faster pace. Moreover, the enrichment of a part of the economic elite often came in dubious ways, aided by crime or political clientelism. These dubious and illegitimate origins make the perception of inequality more difficult and unbearable. It is a statistic to say that 5% of Albanians own almost 90% of the national wealth, but this becomes a source of significant dissatisfaction when you consider that a significant part became rich not thanks to work, sweat and skills, but thanks to connections with politics and crime.

Undoubtedly, the standard of living has improved significantly compared to the totalitarian period, but people live their lives not by comparing themselves to yesterday, but by perceiving today. And today contains a series of uncertainties in the economic and social realm. Improvement does not translate into security, but often into disappointment.

The hemorrhagic wound of transition, an active wound for three decades or so, has, in addition to the benefits, divided families and weakened communities. Young people are leaving en masse, creating an emotional void that is not filled by either economic growth or freedom. From a strictly organized society, we have turned into a fragmented society. Freedom has not come alone, social loneliness walks alongside it.

Dissatisfaction is also linked to the weakness of institutions. Justice remains slow and selective, the administration has been and remains politicized. State capture and clientelism feed the belief that connections are worth more than skills. Albania has entered democracy, but not democratic normality. This protracted transition feeds collective fatigue and persistent dissatisfaction.

It seems clear that our dissatisfaction does not stem from a lack of progress, but from the clash between aspiration and reality. We have gained freedom, but we have lost security. The improvement is obvious, but comparison with the West makes the disappointment even stronger. The paradox of our days “we live better, but we are more unhappy” seems like it will not be a passing phenomenon, it will accompany us for a long time.

I gave these notes to Lilu to give me an opinion. You have forgotten a factor that is both psychological and universal, he told me and continued: in youth we dream that we will do wonders, with the passage of time we see that dreams are one thing, and reality is another. This gap breeds regret and guilt. But the feeling of guilt darkens life, so to soften it as much as possible, to free ourselves from responsibilities, we tend to blame all kinds of things, from the Ottomans who conquered us, separated us from the West and left us behind; to the neighbors who wanted and want to make a hole in us, to today's politicians who lie to us and steal from us. Seen this way, Lilua concluded, dissatisfaction lives in the direction from the inside out, from us to reality.

Mind, mind, this world, I said to myself, and I returned Lilo's smile, otherwise the conversation would have been prolonged and boring...


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