TIRANA, July 21, 2024 – People born in Albania are seeking and acquiring citizenships in EU member states at a level that is higher than any other country in the continent, and ranking third globally, data from a series of EU agencies shows.
In 2022 alone, about 50,000 Albanian citizens acquired the citizenship of a European Union country, according to a recent report by Eurostat, the EU’s main statistical body, and the European Migration Network.
For the past five years, the figure goes to more than 213,000, with Albania’s neighbors Greece and Italy, where the highest number of Albanian migrants reside, issuing the highest number of citizenships.
The migration and asylum report also indicates that around 76,000 Albanians obtained new residence permits or legal status in EU countries in 2023 alone.
-Report confirms migration trends-
The report based on EU data comes as Albania’s preliminary census numbers showed that Albania’s population shrank by almost 14 percent, losing about 429,000 residents since 2011. The country now has officially 2.4 million people. If no emigration would have happened since 1991, the country would statistically have another 2.1 million citizens — people who now live abroad.
There are fears the number of residents is actually lower, as Albania’s political opposition and its demographic experts have raised questions on the numbers published by INSTAT based on other things, reports and data issued by EU bodies.
Albania’s efforts to join the EU have largely stalled in the past decade due to domestic and international factors, which make seeking an EU citizenship an attractive proposition for Albanian migrants abroad. Even if Albania is not joining the EU, Albanians certainly are.
-Leading region in asylum seeking numbers-
The annual report on migration and asylum in Europe also indicates that 6,920 Albanians applied for asylum for the first time in an EU country during 2023.
Albanians also topped the list of Western Balkan countries for the number of asylum seekers in Europe in 2023, and ranked fifth in Europe overall, following Turks, Georgians, Russians and Ukrainians.
Furthermore, the report shows that Albanian citizens were the second most frequently denied entry into an EU country in 2023, following Ukrainians. Approximately 13,855 Albanian nationals, accounting for 11.6 percent of the refusals, followed 18,330 Ukrainians who were denied entry last year.
Albanians also ranked second, after Georgians, for the number of voluntary or forced returns from an EU country to a third country in 2023.
The report states that 7,870 Albanian nationals, making up 8.5 percent of the returns, followed 10,390 Georgians, who led the list of irregular migrant returns from European countries.
The report does not include Albanian migration to the United Kingdom, which has exited the European Union.
According to British authorities, 12,658 Albanian migrants entered the UK irregularly in 2022, mainly crossing the English Channel in small boats.
British data for the period from September 2022 to September 2023 shows a significant increase in the forced returns of foreign nationals, totaling 5,506 individuals, with Albanians comprising over half (52 percent) of the forced returns.
