Without calculating emigration, the population of the 50 municipalities is decreasing

2024-01-04 07:32:00, Sociale CNA

Without calculating emigration, the population of the 50 municipalities is

Illustrative photo

The country's population is shrinking rapidly even without the effects of international immigration.

Detailed INSTAT data on population changes show that out of 61 municipalities in the country, in 50 of them the population is rapidly decreasing even without the effects of international immigration.

At the beginning of 2023, the population of only 11 municipalities has increased, taking into account natural population growth and net internal migration, while all other municipalities had a negative population growth without international migration.

The municipality of Tirana had the highest increase in population without international migration, as it increased by 8,612 inhabitants, followed by the municipality of Kamza, which increased by 1,957 inhabitants.

On the other hand, the municipality of Korçë had a decrease in population without international migration as it decreased by 726 inhabitants, followed by the municipality of Patos, which decreased by 595 inhabitants. As can be seen from the following map, the population without calculating the effects of emigration abroad increased only in the municipalities of Shkodra, Lezha, Durres, Kruja, Tirana, Kamza, Vora, Shijak, Kavaja, Vlora and Saranda.

External emigration is one of the major causes of the decline in the country's population, but currently, even without this phenomenon, the country's population is decreasing due to the decline in births. The official population of the country is estimated at 2.7 million inhabitants, but the exact results are expected to emerge from this year's census.

Also, migration within Albania has a significant impact on the population of administrative units. In 2022, at the district level, only Tirana, Durrës and Vlora had a positive net internal migration (more arrivals than departures), respectively with 7,366 Tirana, 1,182 Durrës and 239 Vlora (arriving more than leaving away). All other counties had negative net internal migration during 2022, in particular the counties of Dibra and Elbasan, with -1.822 and -1.283 respectively.

The new result on the real population living in our country will dictate a new territorial reorganization, as whole municipalities risk disappearing in the not-so-distant future from the decrease of inhabitants and the low birth rate.

In a hypothetical scenario with zero immigration, the population of Albania has increased by only 0.02% by 2022, as the natural increase was only 690 people, while in the first quarter of 2023 the natural increase turned negative due to the high drop in births.

But the immigration component is a fundamental factor in the population statistics, since the amount affects our country more than the natural increase. In 2022, immigration has been strong. There were only about 32,000 asylum seekers in the EU countries and Great Britain, not counting those fleeing the country with work contracts, family reunification and through lotteries./ Monitor Magazine