Tirana is currently ranked as one the cities with the fastest population growth in Europe.

If you were to select a random person in Europe, there is a 75% chance that he or she will live in an urban area rather than a rural one. In the coming decades, the percentage of urban population of this region is expected to increase even more, from 75% to 84%, by 2050.

Based on average annual population growth rates between 2020-2025, which are the fastest growing cities in Europe?

Russia, with its wide territorial extent, contains 6 of the 20 major cities with the fastest population growth in Europe.

Balashikha - the fastest growing European city - is located just 25 km outside Moscow. The rapid expansion on the outskirts of large cities is related to the expansion of urban sprawl.

Although Balashikha is projected to experience the fastest annual population growth rate (2.01%) in the region in the coming years, when compared to other cities globally, it ranks only 768th.

Of the European cities, Tirana ranks third, after two Russian cities, with a growth rate of 1.63% in five years (2020-2025).

It is important to note that urban growth rates in Europe are relatively slow compared to many other parts of the world, such as Asia and Africa.

In the period 2020-2025, the fastest growing city in the world, Gwagwalada, in Nigeria, is expected to grow over 3 times faster than the first city in Europe, Balashikha.