Albania's population will grow old at rapid pace in the next three decades. The United Nations Organization, in 2017 updated global population statistics and predicts that the average age of Albanians (also known as the median age) will reach in 2055 at 50.6 years old, from 36.2 years in 2015.
In 1950, the average age of the Albanian population was 21, due to the end of World War II, which was accompanied by a boom in birth throughout Europe, including Albania.
The median age is predicted to have a steady increase. According to the UN's average growth scenario, it will reach 41.5 years in 2030. Albania will have reached Europe's median age in exactly 2030.Albania's population will not only be aging, but aging structures are predicted to change in the future. According to national data until 2011, aging was driven by the shrinkage of born generations.
According to INSTAT, the youth dependency ratio fell from 53 children per 100 adults in working age in 1989 to 32 children per 100 adults in 2011. The report deteriorated further after the 2011 census. The dependence of the elderly has been limited, though it has doubled from 8 to 18 individuals per 100 adults in working age recently.
The dependence of young people is predicted to decline at a similar rate compared to the increase of dependency of the elderly by 2021 (a decrease of up to 25 young people and an increase of up to 23 elderly per 100 adults in working age respectively, according to average growth scenario).
The Medium Growth Scenario means 30 elderly people per 100 adult working age in 2031.
According to domestic projections for the population stretching by 2031, the demographic events over time will change the structure of the Albanian population age.
The pyramid of gender and age will expand to the top while baby-boom generations, after the 1960s, passed through the retirement age. In addition, the aging of generations born in the 1990s (between the ages of 10 and 20 in 2011) will increase the number of adults at the main age of childbirth in 2021.
However, ten years later. these generations will be replaced by the generations born later, which are far fewer in number, leading to a reduced number of adult able to give birth.