Albania has recorded for the first time in its history a negative natural increase of the population as deaths reached record levels in 2020, due to the fatal consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the declining fertility trend.

According to the preliminary data from the Directorate of Civil Status, total deaths in the country were 28,026 people in 2020, with a strong increase of almost 28% compared to the previous year, or about 6.000 people more than the previous year.

For the same period, according to the birth certificates, about 27,600 births were registered in the country, with a slight contraction of 0.2%. For the first time in the country's history, deaths easily exceeded births (by about 400 people).

This is the lowest level of natural increase of the population, at least since 1948, a few years after the end of the Second World War, according to INSTAT data. But the earliest data, not grouped year after year, show that Albania has the natural increase of the population at the lowest level since 1923, since the registration began, while the increase of the population during the years 1923-1945, was on average over 18.000 people per year.

Since its peak in the early 1990s, natural population growth has been steadily declining, reflecting an increase in the average age of the population, high levels of emigration, declining households, and declining fertility (currently around 1.35 births per woman, among the lowest in Europe).

In 1900, the natural increase of the population was about 64.000 people, while in 2019 it dropped to about 6.000 people, moving towards the trend of equalizing births to deaths for a period of several years.

But the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated this process, due to the high number of fatalities. Albania thus becomes the second country in the region, after Serbia, with negative natural additions.

Another factor influencing the population decline is the high level of emigration in recent decades, with about 40% of the population living abroad. The trend of emigration has accelerated again in recent years, including the departure of families. Official INSTAT figures show that during 2011-2019 over 360.000 people left the country, or 13% of the resident population in 2011.

Latest INSTAT data have it that the resident population of Albania at the beginning of 2020 was about 2.85 million people, but it will be the next census (projected for 2020, but already postponed to 2022), which will show the real numbers of people who have remained in Albania.