- Demographic history of Albania
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Early demographics
Population statistics for Albania start with the first census of 1923, when the country had 823,000 inhabitants. Previous censuses carried out by the Ottoman Empire are not yet available. A shift in administrative borders in 1913 makes comparison of various periods more complicated. Maddison (2001) estimates that in the current territory of Albania, about 200,000 people lived up to the year 1600, and that the population grew to 300,000 by 1700, implying an annual average growth rate of 0.4% in that period.
Modern era
Population growth accelerated from the country's Declaration of Independence in 1913 to 1944 to 0.7% per year. This was due in part because Albania had the largest birth rate and the smallest death rate in Europe at the time.[1] After World War II, population increase policies pursued by the communist government and a large life expectancy fueled a 2.5% annual increase for the following 45 years. Population growth strained economic resources during communism in a Malthusian fashion that led to the collapse of the regime and the emigration of about 20-25% of the population in the following two decades. Albania experienced a demographic transition starting from 1960s, when crude birth rates began a slow decline, despite a government policy that called for a population increase. After the 1990s, the population showed an average decline of about 0.3% per year, caused by emigration. In the 2001 census, the population declined to 3,023,000 from almost 3.3 million in 1990. The next census was scheduled for April 2011, and the results will be published in the following months. However, various minority groups find this proccedure that has been followed unacceptable since according to article 20 of the Census law, there is a $1,000 fine for someone who will declare anything other than what was written down on his birth certificate.[2]
References
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