Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Tirana, Albania metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Albania, then known as Rumelia, was a province of the Ottoman Empire from the fifteenth century until it declared it's independence in 1912. Following a series of unsuccessful uprisings and brief occupations from nearby Serbia and Greece, Albania finally claimed its independence on November 28, 1912; however the Conference of London in 1913 then set the borders of the former-Ottoman states in Southern Europe, which left many ethnic Albanians living in other neighboring states, particularly Serbia (and what is now Kosovo). The newly-formed Albanian state collapsed in the wake of the First World War, and was controlled in parts by Greece, Italy and Serbia. The Paris Conference then established an independent Albanian state, which led to a period of political and economic turmoil that lasted until Italy's annexation of the region in 1939, during the Second World War. It is estimated that just under 3 percent of Albania's population perished as a direct result of the war, as Albania became the main theater for the Axis Powers' war against Greece. Italy then surrendered control of the area to Germany in 1943, and after the war ended in 1945, Albania became a Yugoslav satellite state and remained behind the Iron Curtain until it's collapse in the 1990s. Steady growth during the communist era From the war's end onwards, Albania's population enjoyed steady growth and almost tripled by 1990. Throughout this time, Albania underwent a series of political allegiances; first as a Yugoslav and then Soviet satellite states, but then became an important actor in the Sino-Soviet split, eventually siding with China in the 1960s. Gradually, Albania transitioned into a more isolationist and independent country in in the 1970s, and slowly adopted some more democratic practices. The total population surpassed two million people in the late 1960s, and three million in the late 1980s, but then a dramatic change in population growth occurred in the 1990s, as communism in Europe came to an end. Immediate decline following communism's end Increased freedom of movement, improved access to contraception and major lifestyle changes caused the population to fall into decline. The population did increase in the late 90s, despite a civil war in the first half of 1997 (in which over 2 thousand people died) sparked by a failure of the financial system in Albania. The Albanian Army was also involved in the war in neighboring Kosovo between 1998 and 1999. The 2000s brought about further decline, and the population is just 2.9 million in 2020, a decline of approximately 400,000 people in thirty years. Albania has been a candidate for accession to the EU since 2014, and membership would bring further change to the country.

In 2023, Tirana, Albania's capital, was also the largest city in the country, with over ******* inhabitants. Durrës followed in the ranking, counting nearly ******* inhabitants.

Abstract

Over the past decade, Albania has been seeking to develop the framework for a market economy and more open society. It has faced severe internal and external challenges in the interim – extremely low income levels and a lack of basic infrastructure, the rapid collapse of output and inflation rise after the shift in regime in 1991, the turmoil during the 1997 pyramid crisis, and the social and economic shocks accompanying the 1999 Kosovo crisis. In the face of these challenges, Albania has made notable progress in creating conditions conducive to growth and poverty reduction.

In the process leading to its first Poverty Reduction Strategy (that is the National Strategy for Socioeconomic Development, now renamed the National Strategy for Development and Integration), the Government of Albania reinforced its commitment to strengthening its own capacity to collect and analyze on a regular basis the information it needs to inform policy-making.

Multi-purpose household surveys are one of the main sources of information to determine living conditions and measure the poverty situation of a country. They provide an indispensable tool to assist policy-makers in monitoring and targeting social programs. In its first phase (2001-2006), this monitoring system included the following data collection instruments: (i) Population and Housing Census; (ii) Living Standards Measurement Surveys every 3 years, and (iii) annual panel surveys.

The Population and Housing Census (PHC) conducted in April 2001, provided the country with a much needed updated sampling frame which is one of the building blocks for the household survey structure. The focus during this first phase of the monitoring system is on a periodic LSMS (in 2002 and 2005), followed by panel surveys on a subsample of LSMS households (in 2003, and 2004), drawing heavily on the 2001 census information.

A poverty profile based on 2002 data showed that some 25 percent of the population are poor, with many others vulnerable to poverty due to their incomes being close to the poverty threshold. Income related poverty is compounded by poor access to basic infrastructure (regular supply of electricity, clean water), education and health services, housing, etc.

The 2005 LSMS was in the field between May and early July, with an additional visit to agricultural households in October, 2005. The survey work was undertaken by the Living Standards unit of INSTAT, with the technical assistance of the World Bank.

Geographic coverage

National coverage. Domains: Tirana, other urban, rural; Agro-ecological areas (coastal, central, mountain)

Analysis unit

• Households
• Individuals

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The Republic of Albania is divided geographically into 12 Prefectures (Prefekturat). The latter are divided into Districts (Rrethet) which are, in turn, divided into Cities (Qyteti) and Communes (Komunat). The Communes contain all the rural villages and the very small cities. For census purposes, the cities and the villages have been divided into enumeration areas (EAs).

1. Sampling frame

The Enumeration Areas (EA) that make up the sampling frame come from the April 2001 General Census of Population and Housing. The EAs in the frame are classified by Prefecture, District, City or Commune. The frame also contains, for every EA, the number of Housing Units (HU), the number of occupied HUs, the number of unoccupied HUs, the number of households, and the population. We are using occupied dwellings and not total number of dwellings since many EAs contain a large number of empty dwellings.

A detailed study of the list of census EAs shows that many have zero population. In order to obtain EAs with the minimum of 50 and the maximum of 120 occupied housing units, the EAs with zero population have been taken off the sampling frame. Since the sizes of the EAs varied from 0 to 395 HUs, the smaller EAs (with less than 50 HU) have been collapsed with geographically adjacent ones and the largest EAs (with more than 120 HU) have been split into two or more EAs. Subsequently, maps identifying the boundaries of every split and collapsed EA were prepared. Given that the 2002 LSMS has been conducted less than a year after the April 2001 census, a listing operation to update the sample EAs was not conducted in the field. However, since the level of construction is very high in the city of Tirana and its suburbs, a quick count of the 75 sample EAs selected in Tirana was carried out followed by a listing operation. The check of the listing based on the Census data revealed two types of discrepancies: - HUs had become invalid, i.e. vacant, nonresidential, demolished, seasonally occupied, etc. - Instead of one small building (with one or two HU), a new one with 15 HUs was identified.

During of the listing update process, HUs identified as invalid were taken off the frame. In the case of a new building, these new HUs were entered with a new sequential code. The listing sheets prepared during the listing operation in Tirana, become the sampling frame for the final stage of selection of 12 HU which has to be interviewed. The unit of analysis and the unit of observation is the household. The universe under study consists of all the households in the Republic of Albania. We have used the Housing Unit (defined as the space occupied by one household) as the sampling unit, instead of the household, because the HU is more permanent and easier to identify in the field.

1. Sample Size

In the LSMS the sample size is 450 EA and in each EA 8 households were selected. So the total sample size of the LSMS is 3600 households. In addition, since a certain level of nonresponse is expected, 4 reserve units were selected in each sample EA.

1. Stratification

The sampling frame has been divided in three regions (strata) 1. Coastal Area 2. Central Area 3. Mountain Area and Tirana (urban and other urban) is consider as a separate strata.

The first three strata were divided into major cities (the most important cities in the region), other urban (the rest of cities in the region), and rural. In each more importance was given to the major cities and rural areas. We have selected 10 EA for each major city and 65 EAs (75 EAs for Mountain Area) for each region. In the city of Tirana and its suburbs, implicit stratification was used to improve the efficiency of the sample design.

1. Procedure for the Selection of Housing Units

A fixed number of valid dwelling units (12) was selected systematically and with equal probability from the Listing Form pertaining to Tirana and from the Census forms for the other areas. Once the 12 HUs were selected, 4 of them were chosen at random and kept as reserve units. The selected HUs were numbered within the EA and identified with a circle around the number in the listing form, as well as a circle on the maps. The reserve sample (units 9 to 12) were identified from R1 to R4 during data collection to emphasize the fact that they were reserve units.

Two copies of the sample listing sheets and two copies of maps for each EA were printed. The first copy of the listing sheet and the map were given to the supervisor and included the 12 HU, the second copy was given to the enumerator. The enumerator only received the 8 dwelling units, not the reserve ones. Each time the enumerator needed a reserve HU, he/she had to ask the supervisor and explain the reason why a reserve unit was needed. This process helped determine the reason why reserve units were used and provided more control on their use.

In the field the enumerator registered the occupancy status of every unit: - occupied as principal residence - vacant - under construction (not occupied) - demolished or abandoned (not occupied) - seasonally occupied

In the case that one HU was found to be invalid, the enumerator used the first reserve unit (identified with the code R1). In the case that in one EA more than 4 DU selected were invalid, other units from that EA chosen at random by headquarter (in Tirana) were selected as replacement units to keep the enumerator load constant and maintain a uniform sample size in each EA. Before identifying the invalid HUs, the interviewer had to note the interview status of each visit for all the units for which an interview was attempted, whether these are original units or reserve units. This was done to determine the interview status: interview completed, nonresponse, refusal, etc. In other words, this will allow identifying: the completed interviews (responses obtained), the incomplete but usable ones (responses obtained), the incomplete ones but not usable (nonresponse), the refusals (nonresponse) and the "not at home" (nonresponse). Subsequently, the invalid units identified were substituted with the available reserves, always maintaining the sample of 8 HUs.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Four survey instruments were used to collect information for the 2005 Albania LSMS: a household questionnaire, a diary for recording household food consumption, a community questionnaire, and a price questionnaire.

The household questionnaire included all the core LSMS modules as defined in Grosh and Glewwe (2000)1, plus additional modules on migration, fertility, subjective poverty, agriculture, non-farm enterprises, and social capital. Geographical referencing data on the longitude and latitude of each household were also recorded using portable GPS devices. Geo-referencing will enable a more efficient spatial link among the different surveys of the system, as well as between the survey households and other geo-referenced information.

The choice of the modules was aimed at matching as much as