Total population during 1998-2010

According to official sources Albania’s population until January 1 2010 was 3.195.000. This is only 4.3% higher than in 1998, and as is shown in the graph below, population growth over recent years has been very sluggish. Two main factors have contributed to the slow growth, which has not been higher than 0.75% year over year, are high emmigration and the low number of births.

^{Source: Institute of Statistics (INSTAT)
Comments and analysis: Open Data Albania (ODA)}

Studies on birthrate in Albania show that the number of births has continuously fallen since the 90’s. Such tendency is very strong among younger mothers. More specifically, the birthrate for ages 15-19 has fallen from 50 births/1000 women in 1993-1994 to 20 births/1000 women in 2008-2009, or 60% less.

A more general comparison over time shows that the birthrate has fallen from 82,000 in 1990 to 36,000 in 2008. This is the byproduct of a change in mentality related to family commitment and a departure from the traditional role of women as a child bearer, and higher integration in today’s social life. Presently Albania has a birth index of 1.6 children/women who have the required age to give birth, which is quite comaprable to the rest of the countries in our region.
One thing that could be said with certainty is that the low birth rate, and consequently the increased speed of populations ageing is strongly impacting the average age of Albania’s population. This phenomenon will become even more apparent in future years for today Albania still continues to have a relatively young population, with an average age of 32 years.

^{Source: Institute of Statistics (INSTAT)
Comments and analysis: Open Data Albania (ODA)}

All the data is presented in the dynamic table below:

^{Source: Institute of Statistics (INSTAT)
Comments and analysis: Open Data Albania (ODA)}