Albania is aging and its population is shrinking. While life expectancy continues to rise, the number of births is falling.<\/p>\n
The year 2025 marked a significant decline in births across the country, signaling a crisis with long-term social and economic consequences. According to data from INSTAT, 21,425 births were registered last year, 8.1% fewer than in 2024, meaning that within one year Albania had 1,885 fewer newborns. Compared to the early 1990s, when over 82,000 births were recorded annually, this represents a decline of approximately 74%.<\/p>\n
Experts link this trend to the aging population, with the average age reaching 44.3 years, as well as to declining fertility, which has dropped to just 1.21 children per woman.<\/p>\n
The hardest hit region was Dib\u00ebr, with a 20.4% decline, followed by Kor\u00e7\u00eb with 18.5%. Even economically significant regions such as Fier, Elbasan, Vlor\u00eb, and Durr\u00ebs recorded double-digit decreases. Tirana remains the region with the highest number of births, but even the capital experienced a slight decline of 2%.<\/p>\n
The figures clearly show that Albania is entering a critical demographic phase, which requires urgent policies to curb the decline in birth rates and ensure the country\u2019s sustainability in the decades ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Albania is aging and its population is shrinking. While life expectancy continues to rise, the number of births is falling. The year 2025 marked a significant decline in births across the country, signaling a crisis with long-term social and economic consequences. According to data from INSTAT, 21,425 births were registered last year, 8.1% fewer than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":77906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[243,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n