“Barometer” on Euronews Albania has conducted a study analysing the 30 years of transition in a collective reflection on how these changes have influenced the lives of Albanian citizens.
One of the questions posed to them was to assess their current life as good or bad, on a scale from 1 to 10.
44.7% of them evaluate their current life as good, while 19.4% consider their current life as bad.
Compared to other former communist countries in Eastern Europe, in a similar study conducted a few years ago by the Pew Research Centre, it turns out that Albania is similar to Lithuania and Hungary in the assessment of current life as positive, ranking higher than Ukraine, Russia, and Bulgaria, and lower than Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Most Albanians are better off economically than in the 1990s
According to “Barometer” data, 61.3% of Albanians believe they have a better economic situation compared to 1990.
18.6% of them think it is the same, and the economic situation of their family has not changed in 30 years, and only 15.1% think they are economically worse off than 30 years ago.
Politicians and businessmen are the main beneficiaries
Regarding benefits from changes in these 30 years in Albania, citizens consider that the biggest beneficiaries of the transition changes are politicians. 94.9% of those surveyed have this perception.
Then come businessmen as the main beneficiaries of the socio-political changes Albania has undergone since the 1990s, confirmed by 91.6% of those surveyed.
As for how simple citizens have benefited from these changes, 62.8% of respondents believe that they are third in line as beneficiaries of the changes the country has undergone.
In which sectors does Albania perform better than in the ’90s?
Another question that the “Barometer” asked citizens is to indicate in which areas the country has progressed the most in these 30 years.
From 1000 face-to-face interviews conducted by Data Centrum, it turns out that the most positive influence of the changes is reflected in individual freedoms, confirmed by 87.3% of those surveyed.
Practices and freedom of religion are considered one of the most positive changes by 84.1% of respondents.
82.1% of citizens believe that human rights have developed positively, while 81.1% think the same about the standard of living.
Fewer positive changes are seen in the rule of law and security in the country, with 48.8% of the respondents rating this sector as improved compared to the 1990s.
The same sentiment goes for changes occurred in health, education, and citizens’ voice in governance after the 1990s.
