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Albania still has one of the youngest populations in Europe, but it is aging at a much faster rate than other countries.
According to the latest Eurostat data, the Albanian population of the age group up to 14 years has "shrunk" by 3.1% percentage points, for the period 2014-2021, thus leading the list of thirty-seven countries for which the data has been published (Kosovo is missing ).
From 19.6%, which was the percentage of the population up to 14 years old in 2014, it decreased to 16.5% at the end of 2021, Monitor reports.
For the same period, this indicator for the countries of the European Union has been reduced maximally from 0 to 1.8 percentage points.
After Albania, Turkey and Iceland also have high rates of aging with 1.8 percentage points each, Ireland with 1.5 percentage points and the Netherlands with 1.4 percentage points. The aging seems more stable for other countries of the region such as North Macedonia with 0.8 percentage points and Montenegro with 0.7 percentage points.
Albania still belongs to the group of countries with a young population, with a median age of 38.2 years, at the end of 2021, (from 44 years which is the European average) but the rates of aging in recent years are faster than what has happened in other European countries, especially the EU. The median age is the limit that divides the population into two equal groups, ie in Albania half of the population is younger than 38.2 years old. Throughout the last decade, the country's population aged by 5 years, according to other State Institute fo Statistics of Albania data.
But what are some of the causes that have led the country to this situation?
On the one hand, Albanian women are giving birth less. The synthetic fertility index decreased from 1.73 in 2014 to 1.32 last year. In Europe, the fertility rate was estimated to be 1.49 births per woman for 2022. High emigration of the reproductive-age population and changing lifestyles are the main factors that have influenced this trend.
The other factor is related to the emigration of families leaving with small children. Other Eurostat data show that around 30% of asylum requests are from the age group up to 14 years old.
Some countries, such as Germany, which started the aging process decades ago are now experiencing population recovery from policies that have increased fertility rates.
How is the population pyramid inverted?
In 2001, Albania registered about 30% of the total population in the age group up to 14 years old. The same age group is recorded to have been reduced to 19.57% in 2014 and 16.5% in 2021 referring to the data of the Institute of Statistics. The worst years, where the rate of regeneration has been lower, turn out to be those between the period 2006-2012.
Young people in the countries of the European Union.
For several years, European countries have understood the importance of a young population, so they have taken measures to prevent the aging of the population, mainly through open immigration policies, or easing procedures for educated young people.
According to Eurostat, young people aged 15-29 make up about 16.3% of the total EU population. They made up more than a quarter of the total population in the Danish capital region of Byen Kobenhavn, as well as in the student cities of Overig Groningen in the Netherlands and Heidelberg. Stadtkreis in Germany. In over 46 regions across the EU, young people make up at least one-fifth of the total population.
These are mainly urban regions or university towns and were concentrated in a small number of EU member states such as Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Cyprus, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Looking ahead and based on Eurostat population projections, young people will make up 14.9% of the EU population by 2050, or 1.4 percentage points lower than in 2021, showing signs of progressive aging of the EU population.
Meanwhile, according to these forecasts, there are 16 areas where the number of young people is expected to remain constant or continue to increase in 16 areas, 14 of which are located in Germany.