From 2019, the Albanian government decided to increase the bonus for all families that give birth to a child. The "baby bonus" is obtained as soon as parents register their newborn in the special office opened in every maternity hospital in the country.
Parents are given 40,000 lek for the first child and 80,000 lek for the second child; 120,000 lek for the third child. Before 2019, the bonus distributed by the Municipalities had a value of only 5 thousand ALL.
This measure came as a response to the continuous decline of the population in recent decades. Data from the Institute of Statistics show that on January 1, 2022, the population of Albania is 2,793,592 inhabitants. Compared to 2011, there are officially 38,149 fewer people living in Albania.
The year 2021 was the first time when the country recorded a negative natural increase with 3.296 more deaths than births, this was also influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: INSTAT
In the year 2022, all regions of the country recorded a decrease in the number of births. Tirana is the county with the highest number of births (2,121), while Gjirokastra is the county with the lowest number of births (93).
The district of Tirana, according to INSTAT data, has the youngest population in Albania, with a median age of 36,2 years, while the district of Gjirokastra has the oldest population in the country, with an average age of 43,5 years.
Albania has also recorded a decline at the international level in terms of birth rate. In the Eurostat ranking for 2021, Albania was among the four countries with the highest decline in births after Malta, Spain and Italy.
The government saw policies to increase the birth rate
According to expert Klajdi Bregu, there are two economic factors related to the decrease in births, financial insecurity and mass emigration.
Kljadi Bregu, economics expert
Bregu analyzes that the baby bonus given by the government is unlikely to affect the increase in the birth rate.
"Since it is a one-time payment, it is insufficient to change the economic incentives that a family may have when deciding to have a child", said Bregu.
Economist Zef Preçi says that the policies undertaken by the government regarding the promotion of fertility have not achieved their goal, "because young couples are leaving rather than having children and building a future here".
Zef Preçi, economics expert
"The payment that the government has decided is immediate, while more than half of pregnant women do not have insurance and this is a big problem related to the health of the child during the first two years of life", said Preçi for Citizens Channel.
Bregu argues that the cost of raising a child is too high and the baby bonus is insufficient to encourage young couples to have a child.
"In my judgment, this was done only for political gain and cannot be expected to have an impact on the increase in births in the country. The data show that the decline in the number of births has continued even after the application of the baby bonus", says Bregu.
Preçi analyzes that a family in Tirana today needs at least 30 years of savings to buy a 70m2 apartment in the capital, as prices are very high.
"There is a lack of policies that help for employment but also for other living conditions, there is no stimulating policy regarding infrastructure elements for children that could be valid, that is, relief for the child. Also, the infrastructure, due to the concreting of every surface, is such that it discourages families from giving birth to children, so the whole climate is not supportive at all", said Preçi.
Expert Bregu says that another influencing factor in the shrinking of the population and the decrease in the birth rate in Albania is emigration.
"The age groups that emigrate in a high percentage are the same age groups that have just created or are about to create a family. As a result, even when this group of society gives birth to children, these children are born abroad", says Bregu.
According to him, emigration has influenced the decrease in the number of births. It also says that the main cause of emigration is economic impossibility and it is the same as the decrease in birth rate.
"So, the main problem we have in the country is the lack of economic opportunities and this leads to an increase in immigration and a decrease in births at the same time", concludes Bregu.
Preçi states that emigration has played a multiple role in reducing the birth rate.
"The number of contributors to social insurance has decreased, which means that the government has less means available to support young families with pro-birth policies, on the other hand, the structure of the population has changed, there have been more grandparents who are involved in raising children , this has created problems with educationn", adds Preçi.
He completed master's studies in Investigative Journalism at the Department of Journalism at the University of Tirana. She has been working as a journalist for five years, where she previously covered issues of politics and parliamentary activity, in print and online media. She is currently a journalist at Citizens.al, where she covers various social issues related to the transparency of institutions. At Citizens.al, she leads the podcast "The Unheard" and is engaged as a manager of projects related to the support of investigative journalism.
