Year after year, women of reproductive age plan to give birth to fewer and fewer children. Postponing the age of marriage, career and lifestyle changes are making Albanian women less and less inclined to start a family and to give birth to more than one child.

INSTAT data shows that during 2022 the fertility rate fell to 1.21 children per woman of reproductive age, from 1.32 in 2021. This is the sharpest decline since 2015 (see graph below).

This means that in 100 women of reproductive age, only 121 children are born, out of 132 children born in 2021. From 2001 to 2023, the fertility rate has halved, falling from a level of 2.31 children per woman to 1.21 children.

Compared to Eurostat 2021 data, Albania is seen to have the lowest birth rates in Europe, leaving behind only Spain (1.19) and Malta (1.13).

The fertility index is below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman, which means that a couple cannot replace themselves.

Postponing the age of marriage, career goals and in many cases economic impossibility are causing Albanian women to give birth to fewer and fewer children.

According to internal data from INSTAT, the synthetic fertility index fell to 1.32 children per woman in 2021 from 1.34 children in 2020 and 1.36 in 2019. In 2001, according to INSTAT, this indicator was 2.1, while in the 1970s it was over 5.

INSTAT reported that in 2022 the birth rate has decreased for the 20-24 and 25-29, 35-39 age groups, while for the older age groups it has undergone a slight increase. In 2022, the average age at birth is 29.5 years.

Last year, 24,688 babies were born with a 13 percent decrease compared to 2021. The sex ratio at birth is 107, which shows that for every 100 girls born, 107 boys are born.

This ratio is higher than the natural ratio, which is 105.

Gender-specific fertility rates for 2022 support the fact that men start having children relatively later than women, approximately 5 years later, while fertility rates after 30 are higher than women. .

The gross reproduction coefficient (GRC) is a good indicator for measuring the growth of future generations. It measures the rate at which women replace themselves during their reproductive years. The method of calculating the KBR is the same as that of the ISF, but in this case only female births are taken into account.

In 2022, the KBR is 0.59, which means that women in Albania are about 41 percent away from replacing themselves. This indicator is directly influenced by the reproductive behavior of women expressed by the ISF and by the gender ratio at birth.

The teenage birth rate has decreased compared to a year ago. In 2022, there are 10.0 births for every 1,000 girls in the 15-19 age group, up from 12.1 births in 2021.

With this progress, the population of Albania will suffer an irreversible decline, as there will be fewer and fewer women, who are the basis of reproduction.

In 2021, the KBR is 0.63, which means that women in Albania are about 37 percent away from replacing themselves. This indicator is directly influenced by the reproductive behavior of women and by the preference to give birth to boys.

(Source: Monitor)