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The most popular destination is Germany (26% of the total), followed by the United Kingdom (18%) and Italy (16%). In numerical terms, Albania is second behind the Romanian citizens (about 358,000) but, if we consider only the number of young people who want to emigrate, the Land of Eagles holds the record with about 40% of young people who want to leave the country.
The data and the reaction of President Meta
The President of the Republic, Ilir Meta, sharing the results of the survey of the "Ebert" foundation on his Facebook profile, expressed himself on the issue of youth migration defining it as the "biggest challenge" to face.
"Stopping the depopulation of Albania ... the biggest challenge that requires urgent reflection." - reads the post of the President.
The economic factors and the negative perception of the situation of the native country, are the main factors that push young people to emigrate. However, although youth emigration continues to characterize all Balkan countries such as Albania, the brain drain varies from country to country. This trend, in fact, is aggressive in countries like Albania and Montenegro, while it is far smaller in countries like North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
In general, the young people of south-eastern Europe show a great level of readiness to integrate into the social structure in which they emigrate; this fact is also testified by their immediate desire to learn the language of the host country.
The survey of the "Ebert" foundation also shows that the trend of youth emigration is "led" by young unemployed people: they, in fact, declared themselves ready to emigrate within a period of six months. Behind them follow young people with parents with a low level of education and those living in rural areas of the country.