Minimum monthly wage of Euro 500, average monthly wage over Euro 1000, doubling of pensions, etc., are the basis of the programs of political parties, ahead of the parliamentary elections of May 11.

Still after 35 years of transition, they are basing the campaign on promises, which ultimately guarantee the minimum living of an individual or pensioner.

The Socialist Party has been in power since 2013 and is aiming for a fourth consecutive mandate, as it was previously in power from 1997 to 2009.

The Democratic Party governed the country from 2005 to 2013, having previously been the leading force in the early 1990s in the transition from a centralized to a market economy.

After many years of governance, per capita income is expected to reach Dollar 9,600 in 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), up from Dollar 250 in 1992 and Dollar 900 in 1995.

However, comparative data with the region and Europe show that the efforts have not been enough. The division of power between left and right has not managed to remove Albania from the list of the poorest and most corrupt countries in Europe.

Per capita income according to purchasing power is one-third of the European Union, salaries are 30% lower than the average in the region (excluding Kosovo), while its citizens continue to be the unhappiest in Europe (with the exception of Turkey) and are still emigrating at rates similar to the early 1990s and the highest in the world, in relation to the population.

Local news provider Monitor made a panorama of the economic performance of the last three decades. In 1990, Albania was the poorest in Europe, according to IMF data on per capita income measured by purchasing power parity, with 2,948 international dollars (the unit that makes fairer comparisons of living standards and economic performance between countries, taking into account changes in prices and purchasing power).

More than three decades later, while development in countries that moved from centralized to free-market economies is very different, Poland grew rapidly, helped both by its strategic location near Western countries and by its faster accession to the European Union. Bulgaria and Romania also benefited from EU membership.

In 1990, Poland's income, measured by purchasing power parity, was 37% of the then European Union average, while in 2024 it was 82% of it, or 90% of the European average. Bulgaria's income is 62% of the EU average.

Albania has lagged in the convergence process. In 1990, per capita income, measured in purchasing power parity, in Albania was 16% of the EU average, and in 2024, it is no more than 37% of what an average European citizen earns and 34% of the EU average.

Montenegro has the highest income, at 50% of the EU average, followed by Serbia (46%), North Macedonia (42.9%), Bosnia and Herzegovina at almost the same level as Albania (34.3%) and last of all Kosovo, at 27%.