United Nations (UN) has predicted that the number of inhabitants living in Albania will continue to shrink rapidly in the coming years. 

According to UN forecasts, by 2050 the population of Albania is expected to decrease to 2.5 million inhabitants and by the year 2100 it will shrink to 1.1 million inhabitants, thus reaching the levels of the 1960s. 

At the beginning of the 1960s, the population of Albania was about 1.2 million inhabitants. In the early 1990s, the country's population almost tripled, reaching 3.3 million. 

After the 90s, the rapid developments that took place in the country also brought great demographic changes. The population began to decline rapidly, influenced first by the high level of immigration that peaked in the first decade of the transition and then by the new lifestyle, with lower birth rates and smaller families. 

At the end of 2021, the population of Albania is estimated to be 2.8 million inhabitants, although this is only an estimate, since the last Census was carried out in 2010, while the new one is expected to take place this year. 

Other data processed by Visual Capitalist show that Albania's population is expected to shrink by 15.8% by 2050, according to the report, ranking tenth, after Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova and Japan. 

Meanwhile, the decline in the birth rate and continuous immigration are the two reasons that are influencing the population reduction. According to the UN, about 40% of Albania's population already lives abroad. 

On the other hand, the cycle of immigration has been revitalized in recent years, including families, the educated and especially young people. Even Covid-19 has increased mortality in 2020-2021. 

According to INSTAT, the population of Albania on January 1, 2022 is 2,793,592 inhabitants, suffering a decrease of 1.3%, compared to January 1, 2021. This is the fifth consecutive year with a decrease in the number of inhabitants. 

During the year 2021, the natural increase of the population (birth-death) was -3,296 inhabitants, marking for the first time a negative natural increase. 

During 2021, a significant increase in emigration was also observed, while the number of returnees remains low. INSTAT reported that the number of immigrants in 2021 was 9,195 people and the number of immigrants was 42,048 people. The number of emigrants, according to INSTAT charts, was the highest since 2019 and 2014. 

Even fertility rates (expressing the number of children a woman can have in her lifetime) are falling rapidly year after year, signaling irreversible population decline. The birth rate has dropped to about 1.3 births per woman (below the replacement rate), falling sharply from 6 in the 1960s and over 2 in the early 90s, according to INSTAT. 

Fertility falling below the population replacement rate signals population decline over decades and rapid aging. For this reason, the continent is suffering from meeting the needs of the labor market. The demand for work driven by the demographic factor will create the conditions for a safe flow of immigration even from developing countries such as Albania. 

Also affected by the high rates of immigration, the population of Albania has entered a rapid aging process, turning into a major problem for the sustainable economic development of the country.