According to the study of Instat the population of Albania has decreased compared to 2018, marking on January 1, 2019 a figure of about 2.862.427 people, i.e. about 0.28% less.
What is noticeable for this year is the increase in the number of women, with a growth rate of 0.08%, while the population of men has decreased by a rate of 0.6%. In 2018, women constituted 50.1% of the population. The natural increase was lower for men than for women, respectively 3.358 and 3.772.
Regarding the age groups, there is a predominance of the male gender up to the age group of 35-39 years. The median age for men in 2018 is 35,0 years, while for women it is 37,2 years. The median age is the age at which half the population is older and half younger. The fact that women have a higher median age than men is explained by their higher life expectancy. Life expectancy at birth for men in 2018 was calculated to be 77.4 years, while for women 80.5 years, i.e. about 3 years more than men.
The net migration of women in 2018 is negative and marks -2.655 women, from 4.628 in 2017, while the net migration of men has marked a significant decrease with -12.375 migrated men, from -19.530 in 2017. The negative net migration of men and of women has influenced the general decline of the population.
Births, women 30% away from replacing themselves
Births in 2018 are about 28,9 thousand births. The gender ratio is 1.08, which means that for every 100 girls born, 108 boys are born. This ratio is higher than the natural ratio of 105 births. The birth rate has decreased for the 20-24 and 25-29 age groups, while for the older age groups it has increased slightly. The average age at birth for 2018 was 28,6 years. Men start having children later than women, approximately 5 years later, while fertility rates after 30 are higher than women.
According to the Synthetic Fertility Index (ISF), which shows the average number of children a woman of reproductive age is expected to give birth to, marking 1.37 children for 2018. So 100 women are expected to give birth to 137 children. This index is below the replacement rate of 2,1 children per woman, which means that a couple fails to replace itself.
Gross reproduction ratio (GRC) is a good indicator for measuring the growth of future generations. It measures the rate at which women replace themselves during their reproductive years. In 2018, the KBR is 0.66, which means that women in Albania are about 30% away from replacing themselves.
Meanwhile, the teenage birth rate has decreased compared to a year ago. In 2018, there are 14,5% births for every 1000 girls aged 15-19, from 16,2 births that were in 29176. The percentages are small until the age of 17, where 1.2% of girls have a birth, this trend, which is growing, reaching 3.1% at the age of 19.
*Citizens Channel /EK/
