Albanians are having fewer and fewer children.

INSTAT data speak of 22,210 babies born in 2023, the lowest number since 1934, when the registration of births on an annual basis began.

Statistics prove that in 1950, when the communist dictatorship regime was established, 47,291 babies were born while the number of women of reproductive age was only 259,472 thousand, or 3 times lower than in 2023.

This decrease in births is beyond INSTAT’s projections, which predicted that in 2023, 27,281 babies would be born, but in reality 19% less than the most pessimistic expectations were born.

Women’s desire for children does not match the number of babies born.

Data from the Demographic and Health Survey, which was conducted in 2018, showed that a woman of reproductive age wanted more than two children.

Six years ago, 100 women wanted to give birth to at least 250 children, a figure that is higher than the replacement rate of parents that guarantees natural population growth.

Six years later 100 women gave birth to only 121 children, not even half of what they considered ideal.

Comparable Eurostat data shows that Albania has seen the largest decline in fertility from 2021 to 2022.
Official data from Eurostat shows that the fertility rate in Albania was 1.71 children per woman in 2012 and in 2023 it decreased to 1.21 children per woman.

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.

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

Also, the gender ratio at birth has worsened, since for every 100 girls born, 107 boys were born in 2022.

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.