
The country's population decreased by 420 thousand people between the 2011-2023 censuses, as the average age of the population reached 42.5 years, aging by 7 years from 2011. The largest decrease in the population in percentage occurred in Shkodër and Kukës, while the population of Tirana, during this period, increased by only 1.2%. About 91% of the population declared themselves of Albanian ethnicity and 66.9% of the population declared that they follow or belong to a specific religion or belief. Dwellings for residential purposes only were 7.4% more than in 2011, but 40% of building entries were empty, as the size of family units was further reduced. If there were no immigration, the country's population would be about 2.9 million inhabitants (natural increase 88 thousand people + 420 thousand missing people + 2.4 million inhabitants).
In the third decade of transition 2011-2023, when it is assumed that the country has passed the emergency after the communist regime and should have entered a stable development phase, the opposite happened.
The preliminary results of the 2023 census showed that the country's population fell at a faster rate than the first two decades of the transition.
According to official INSTAT data, Albania had 2,402,113 inhabitants on Sunday midnight and Monday morning, September 17-18, 2023, of which 49.6% are men and 50.4% are women. Compared to the 2011 census data, the country's population has decreased by 14.8%.
This decrease was higher than in the period 2001-2011 when the population decreased by 9.6% or about 300 thousand people, while in the first decade of transition 1989-2011, the country's population shrank by only -3.1%.
The data show that immigration is the main cause of population decline, since during 2011-2021 the country had a positive natural increase (births minus deaths) of over 88 thousand people. The country's population would be about 2.9 million inhabitants (natural addition 88 thousand people + 420 thousand missing people + 2.4 million inhabitants).
In the 2023 Census, 91.0% of the population declared Albanian ethnicity, while 2.8% declared another type of ethnicity and 0.6% answered with 'I prefer not to answer'. A small percentage of the population (0.05%) declared 'None' for ethnicity.
About 66.9% of the population declared that they follow or belong to a specific religion or belief according to the predefined categories in the Cens.
A significant percentage of 13.8% stated that they are believers but do not belong to any particular religion or belief, while 3.6% stated that they are 'Atheists', and 10.2% stated that they 'Prefer not to answer' for the question about religion.
As with the question on ethnicity, also for faith, data is not available for 5.6% of the population, INSTAT reported.
Shkodra and Kukësi, with the largest population decline, Tirana grows by only 1.2%
Between 2011 and 2023, the population has decreased in all regions of the country and for Tirana there is an increase of only 1.2%.
According to INSTAT data, in all districts, with the exception of Tirana, the population has decreased during the period 2011-2023, in a range of changes of 28.3% in Shkodra District and 27.3% in Kukës District. up to 0.7% in Berat District.
Expressed in absolute value, Elbasan and Shkodra have suffered the highest population decline. On the other hand, the population of the District of Tirana has increased by 1.2%, mostly from internal migration.
The increase in the population in Tirana and the decrease in other counties results in the increase in the percentage of the resident population in Tirana, from 26.8% in 2011 to 31.6% in 2023.
Approximately one third of the Albanian population (31.6%) lives in the District of Tirana. The second district with the highest percentage of the population is Fieri with about 10.0%, followed by the District of Elbasan with 9.7% of the total population. Kukësi and Gjirokastra have the lowest percentage, with 2.6% and 2.5% of the respective population.
The distribution of the population in the territory of Albania shows a concentration in Fier, Durrës and especially Tirana.
The median age reaches 42.5 years, increasing by 7 years from 2011
In addition to the decline, the population structure is aging and the elderly dominate the population structure. The 2023 Census data show that the average age of the population reached 42.5 years, increasing by 7 years from 2011, where this indicator was 35.5 years.
The influencing factors of births, deaths and international and internal migration brought about the change in the structure of the population, in the 2023 Census.
The population pyramid based on the 2023 Census is very narrow at the bottom due to declining births and is widening in the middle and top due to the increase in the old-age population.
2023 Census data show that one in five individuals (19.7%) are 65 or older, compared to one in nine individuals (11.3%) in the 2011 Census and 7.5% in the 2001 Census.
The transition to an older population is also seen in dependency ratios. The youth dependency ratio decreased to 24.0% from 30.4% estimated in the 2011 Census, and the elderly dependency ratio increased to 30.4% from 16.7% in 2011.
Analyzed at the district level, Kukësi and Gjirokastra hold opposite positions in terms of dependency ratios: Kukësi has the highest youth dependency ratio (31.8%) and the lowest elderly dependency ratio (19.9 %).
Whereas, Gjirokastra has the lowest youth dependency ratio (19.0%) and the highest elderly dependency ratio (46.1%). The average age of the population is 42.5 years, from 35.3 years in the 2011 Census.
Analyzing the 50-69 age group in the population pyramid, an expansion is observed that corresponds to a period of births between the mid-1950s and 1970s. Albania during this period was characterized by an increase in birth rates, known as "baby boom".
Low fertility rates and the downward trend, combined with the emigration of the reproductive age population resulted in a narrowing of the base of the population pyramid.
Fertility below replacement level since 2001, increased life expectancy, and migration remain the main factors of population aging.
55% of the population married, 36.6% single
The gender ratio of the population is 98.2, (the number of men per 100 women). This ratio is lower than the known global estimate (101.0), but higher than the EU gender ratio estimated in 2022 of 95.64.
In the under-10 age group, males outnumber females, with a gender ratio higher than 108.
This ratio reverses in the 40s and after the 80s, with a large decline due to the high life expectancy of women compared to men. The gender ratio in the over-80 population is 82.1, and five out of six individuals aged 100 and over are female.
According to the 2023 Census, 54.9% of the population is married, 36.6% are still single, 7.0% have the status of "widowed" and 1.4% are divorced or separated. By the age of 30, the percentage of single individuals is higher.
After the age of 30 to 85, the percentage of married people increases, reaching a peak of about 88% in the 45-64 age group. After the age of 65 and above, the percentage of widowed individuals increases significantly
From the analysis of the marital status, according to gender, it is observed that the majority of the widowed population are women (82.3%), due to the higher life expectancy and the age difference between the spouses.
Also, referring to the divorced or separated population, women make up 58.9%, while in the population that has never married (single), 55.7% are men, this percentage is higher and due to the later average age of their marriage.
A gender parity can be observed for the married population. However, by analyzing the gender and age distribution of the married population, a higher percentage of women in the younger age groups is observed, due to the earlier age of their marriage.
99.4% of the population declared themselves Albanian citizens
Of the resident population in Albania, 99.4% have Albanian citizenship, while the rest of 0.6% is made up of individuals with foreign citizenship, or without citizenship.
In contrast to the population with Albanian citizenship, in the population with foreign citizenship and without citizenship, a higher percentage of men is observed (54.5%, against 45.5%), with a gender ratio of 120, i.e. 120 men for 100 women with foreign citizenship and without citizenship.
This population is more concentrated in the young age group, namely 15-39 years old (34.9%, compared to 30.6% of the population with Albanian citizenship) and less in the population over 65 years of age and older (12.8%, compared to 19.7% of the population with Albanian citizenship). According to the 2023 Census, 98.3% of the population in Albania are local, and 1.7% are individuals born abroad.
Among the foreign-born population, approximately half of them (46.2%) were born in Greece, and 16.6% in Italy. Analyzing the composition of the local and foreign-born population by district, it is noted that the District of Gjirokastra has the highest percentage of the foreign-born population, with 2.8%. In the other three counties of Vlora, Tirana and Durrës, there is a percentage of the population born abroad.
Family size shrinks
In the 2023 Census, it was found that the majority of Albania's population lives in private family economic units (FEU), (99.3%), while 0.7% are members of collective housing.
Referring to the moment of the census, the number of Family Economic Units was 755,950 and the average size was estimated at 3.2 members per FEU.
In the 2011 Census, the average PEI size was 3.9 members per PEI. More than one in eight PEs (13.7%) consist of a single person, representing 4.3% of the population.
The typologies of PEs encountered the most were those composed of two to four members, namely two-thirds (2/3) of PEs. About 28.5% of PEs are represented by the typology of PEs with a composition of two members, which is the largest category.
Larger PEs, with five or more members, represent less than one fifth (19.5%) of PEs, accounting for one third of the population (35.8%).
The largest part of the population, 88.1%, lived in the PE with traditional composition of family nuclei (child, spouse, cohabitant and parents).
From the rest of the population (11.9%), 7.6% of them declared that they had no family ties and 4.3% of the population lived alone. Of the 103,000 people who lived alone, 62.5% of them were 60 years old or older.
The most frequent family nuclei consisted of married or cohabiting couples with children, 52.2%, followed by married or cohabiting couples without children, 37.5%, while single parents with children accounted for only 10.3% of them .
The majority of private PEs (82.5%) are owners of the apartment where they live or are in the process of obtaining the legal deed of ownership. PEs living in rented apartments accounted for 8.8% of total PEs and 8.7% with other ownership housing arrangements.
PEs in Albania mostly own long-term main equipment such as: televisions, refrigerators, mobile phones and washing machines, at least by 96% of PEs. Most of the IEFs, more than 74% have a physical internet connection system.
Access to information and communication technology has increased significantly since the last census. Ownership of televisions (5.6 percentage points), decoder TV (55.9 percentage points), computer or laptop with (8.3 percentage points) and mobile phones (9.4 percentage points).
The physical connection of the Internet line has marked a significant increase compared to the previous census, with 62.2 percentage points.
Whereas, the ownership of landline telephones has significantly decreased, from 28.5% to 8.5% of the EIF. At the same time, the significant increase in other long-term equipment in the 2023 census shows a significant improvement in the living conditions of the PE in Albania, compared to the data of the 2011 census.
Air conditioners (27.5 percentage points), microwaves (13.9 percentage points) and dishwashers (9.3 percentage points) stand out.
A new trend is the significant increase in the ownership of solar panels by PE, where 11.4% of them own solar panels compared to 2.7% in the previous census.
Approximately half of the IEF in Albania (44.4%) own or use a car, a significant increase of 19.6 percentage points compared to the 2011 census.
Dwellings for residential purposes increased by 7% from 2011-2023, 40% of entries in empty buildings
In 2023, the number of dwellings for residential purposes only, (not for business, etc.) was 1,082,529 with a 7.4% increase from 2011.
The 2023 census counted 1,082,529 ordinary dwellings. Individual houses represented 47.0% of these dwellings, while 39.9% of them are buildings. A small category of dwellings are semi-detached dwellings (8.1%) and terraced houses (5.0%).
From the total number of ordinary dwellings, at the time of the census, there were 726,325 (67.1%) inhabited dwellings, estimating 32.9% uninhabited ordinary dwellings.
The rate of unoccupied ordinary dwellings ranged from 24.3% for semi-detached dwellings to 39.4% for dwellings in blocks of flats, detached houses and terraced houses were each 29.2 and 29.8% respectively.
Ordinary inhabited dwellings include 755,531 household economic units and 2,384,418 resident population.
In approximately equal percentages, ordinary dwellings were built in the period since 2001 (36.4%), and in the 20-year period 1981-2000 (37.5%), while about a quarter (26.1%) ) were built before 1981.
About a quarter (26.1%) of ordinary dwellings were built before 1981 and in approximately equal percentages, in the 20-year period, 1981-2000, 37.5% were built, and from 2001 onwards 36.4% have been built.
Almost half of these dwellings (47.1%) had a usable floor area of ??40-69 m² and about a quarter (23.7%) had a useful floor space of 70-99 m².
Censi estimated that 86.4% of ordinary inhabited dwellings had running water in the dwelling or in the building.
Almost all ordinary inhabited dwellings (96.2%) had a toilet inside the dwelling or inside the building. A small percentage (less than 0.1%) of the dwellings counted in the Census were non-ordinary dwellings.
In these other housing units lived about 400 IEFs and 1.4 thousand ordinary residents.