INSTAT: 1 million Albanians suffer from a severe form of poverty

2024-12-20 08:45:00, Ekonomi CNA

More than 1 million Albanians suffer from a severe form of poverty, according to the latest INSTAT data that measured income and living standards in 2023.

Since 2018, INSTAT measures poverty in accordance with the Eurostat methodology through the indicator "At risk of being poor or social exclusion (AROPE) which refers to individuals who are at risk of being poor, or deeply deprived of material and social, or living in families with very low employment intensity.

According to the latest results, Albania had 42.1% suffering from a severe form of poverty. If we take into consideration that with the data of Cens 2023, the population of the country was 2.4 million inhabitants and over 1 million Albanians are experiencing one of the severe forms of poverty.

All 1 million Albanians live in families that cannot afford at least seven of the thirteen categories of deprivation (6 categories related to deprivation at the individual level and 7 categories related to deprivation at the family level).

At the family level, difficulties are considered:

Delays in loan or rent payments for the main residence, expenses for basic services, installment purchases or other payments of loans taken;

Inability to afford a week's annual vacation away from home;

The inability to afford an unforeseen financial expense worth 30,000 new ALL;

Inability to afford a meal of meat, chicken, fish (or the equivalent for vegetarians) once every two days;

The family's financial inability to keep the house adequately warm;

Financial inability to have a car for personal use;

Replacing old furniture with new

An individual may be considered in difficulty if he does not have:

Ability to have an Internet connection;

Replacing old clothes with some new clothes;

Having two pairs of shoes that fit properly (including one pair of all-season shoes);

Spending a small amount of money each week on himself/herself;

The possibility to have regular activities in free time;

Meeting friends/family for a drink/meal at least once a month.

According to Eurostat, Albania has the highest percentage in Europe of the population at risk of poverty and material deprivation.

The indicators for Albania, according to Eurostat, are significantly higher compared to other neighboring countries of the Western Balkans, where Montenegro has 34.1% of the population at risk of poverty, North Macedonia 32.6%, Serbia 30%, while Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo do not there are data.

Eurostat data for the countries of the European Union show that in 2023, about 21.4% of the European population or 94.6 million inhabitants were at risk of poverty or social exclusion./ Monitor magazine