TIRANA, March 25, 2024 – Albania might be experiencing a tourism boom – but its residents remain Europe’s most unhappy people, according to an annual UN report published last week.
Despite a slight improvement in its ranking compared to the previous year, with Albania climbing from 91st to 87th place globally, nowhere else in the continent are people less happy, with Albania only leaving transcontinental Turkey behind in the ranking.
Meanwhile, co-ethnics in Kosovo far outshine Albania by being in 29th place in the world. Other countries in the region – Serbia (37), Montenegro (76), and North Macedonia (84) – also do better.
That’s according to the World Happiness Report, a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which relies on an annual survey of approximately 1,000 individuals in about 140 countries. Respondents are asked to rate their perceived quality of life on a scale from 1 to 10. Albania scored 5.304 in this year’s report.
Although Albania has improved its position due to a deterioration in global happiness overall, previous rankings showed Albanians with higher scores, averaging 5.117, indicating a decrease in self-perceived happiness.
Albania scores lowest in the corruption perception index, with only 0.049 points, reflecting concerns about the prevalence of corruption in the government. Additionally, the country received a low score of 0.138 for generosity, indicating limited solidarity among Albanians for one another.
The highest scores for Albania are in GDP per capita (1.4), social support (0.9), and healthy life expectancy (0.6). However, Albanians feel they have limited freedom to make life choices, with a score of 0.69.
The World Happiness Report ranks countries based on average life evaluations over the past three years (2021-2023), identifying the happiest and least happy nations and the factors contributing to greater happiness.
-Understanding the malaise-
The unhappiness and lack of hope in Albania is also seen in ongoing emigration among young people. A recent survey by the Albanian Institute for International Studies showed that 13 percent of the active age population is planning to leave in the next year, while two in three in the active population say they would leave the country if given a choice.
Similar elements such as corruption, lack of economic opportunities and lack of hope for a better future are seen as reasons for wanting to emigrate.
Some analysts point out that international reports like this latest one tear down the PR facade created by the Albanian government, in power for 10-years. It is working to win the next election through a combination of instituting electoral rules that favor the incumbent and by forcing opposition voters to emigrate, critics argue.
Looking at understanding the reasons behind Albanians’ lack of happiness, Gezim Tushi, a local sociologist, told local media that Albanians have long felt unhappy, both individually and socially and clearly things are not changing.
“This is a social tragedy that has accompanied us for a long time, whether during the Communist period when under the totalitarian state, happiness indicators and indexes were certainly limited because the very concept of happiness was ideological. Apparently, even during this 33-year transition period, quotas or happiness indicators have not stabilized, and people still feel unhappy,” Tushi said, adding that all the key indicators are problematic for Albania.
-Nordics remain happiest, US and Germany decline-
In this year’s report, Finland retains its position as the world’s happiest country. The Nordic neighbors of Finland also occupy top spots, with Denmark (2), Iceland (3), and Sweden (4) in the top five. Norway (7) easily secures a place in the top 10.
The United States (23) and Germany (24) have dropped out of the top 20, partly due to increased happiness among other countries, notably the Czech Republic (18), Lithuania (19), and Slovenia (21). The United Kingdom ranked 20th.
In the United States and Canada, happiness scores among those under 30 were dramatically lower than those of people aged 60 and over. Among those under 30, the U.S. ranked 62nd, while for those 60 and over, it was 10th. Canada ranked 58th among young people and 8th among those 60 and over.
