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Albania is turning into a large asylum/ The population over 65 years old marks the strongest growth in Europe in a decade

2026-02-16 07:13:40, Sociale CNA

Albania is turning into a large asylum/ The population over 65 years old marks

Albania is turning into a large asylum as the age group over 65 years old in relation to the working-age population (15-64 years old) is growing at very rapid rates never experienced in this way by any other European country.

The latest Eurostat data on demographic trends in the European continent in the last 10 years, 2015-2025, position our country at the top of the list for the increasing proportion of the elderly in relation to the labor force.

In 2015, the population over 65 years old in Albania constituted about 18.2% of the total labor force (15-64 years old), a result that categorized our country as relatively young compared to the European Union average or countries like Italy and Germany. In 2025, the age group over 65 years old was as much as 33.3% of the labor force.

Between 2015 and 2025, Albania holds the first place in Europe for the highest increase in the percentage of the population over the age of 65 in relation to the working-age population. Within just a decade, the share of the elderly in the working-age population has increased drastically by 15.1 percentage points, surpassing any other country monitored on this list (see chart below).

While countries like Moldova or North Macedonia are also experiencing significant growth in this age group, they lag behind Albania with an increase of 14.1 and 10.7 percentage points, respectively.

Due to the demographic crisis, Albania has experienced a sharp increase in the median age of the population. In 2015, the median age (which divides the population in half) was 34.7 years old.

This means that in 2025, half of the population was under 44.3 years old, while 10 years ago Albania was much younger, with half of the population being younger than 34.7 years old.

While Europe took several decades to transition to a stage of population aging, Albania has undergone this transformation within just one decade, as from 2015 to 2025 the median age in our country increased by 9.6 years, the highest rate on the continent, while the European average during this period was 2.1 years.

This phenomenon of accelerated aging in our country is attributed to a combination of factors, such as the massive emigration of young people and the continuous decline in the birth rate. Unlike developed countries like Sweden or Luxembourg, where the increase in the average age is much slower and controlled, Albania is aging at a galloping pace without having the economic strength to support this change.

The data in the table clearly shows that Albania is not simply facing a natural aging process, but a demographic crisis that requires urgent intervention. If in 2015 we were among the youngest countries, in 2025 our country ranks in the same position as the old European powers, but with much fewer resources to cope with this new reality. /Monitor