An individual needs 18,500 Albanian lek per month to buy basic foods. The Ombudsman calculated the vital minimum and asked the government to approve this threshold.

In the latest report sent to the Assembly, the Ombudsman says that “Albania continues to remain one of the countries that does not have a legally defined vital minimum”.

As such, the institution considers the lack thereof to be unjustifiable, as the vital minimum should be in the foundation of the drafting of social policies followed by the state for groups in need.

Attempts to introduce the vital minimum on the parliament’s agenda have also been made by some civil society organizations in the country but so far, they have not received a positive response. If parliament were to approve the threshold, then any payments given to the needy of pensioners would be increased to the proposed level.

Most of the pensioners in the country are paid a very low pension, while the economic help is even lower than the threshold this institution calculates.