TIRANA, Nov. 17 – The overwhelming 90 percent of Albania’s population lives on 16,637 lek (€121) a month, only slightly above a newly calculated 16,000 lek (€115) subsistence level by the Ombudsman’s office, a survey has shown.
By contrast, the wealthier 10 percent of the population spent more than double with the average monthly consumption at 138,711 lek (€1,012).
An average household of 3.8 people spend 70,766 lek (€516) a month in 2015, up only 1.9 percent compared to 2014, according to findings of a survey conducted by state statistical institute, INSTAT, with more than 7,300 households nationwide.
“In 2015, an Albanian individual spent 18,600 lek (€136) a month, 3.3 percent more compared to 2014, of which 9,100 lek (€66) on food consumption and 9,500 lek (€69) on non-food consumption,” said Delina Ibrahimaj, the newly appointed INSTAT director introducing the survey results.
The region of Tirana, where about a third of the country’s 2.8 million resident population lives, had the highest consumption with an estimated 81,710 lek (€596) monthly consumption for an average household of 3.5 people.
Northern Lezha, surprisingly ranked the region with the second-highest monthly consumption followed by southern Gjirokastra, Shkodra and Durres regions.
Quite surprisingly the southern region of Vlora, known for its developed tourism industry but at the same having the country’s highest unemployment rates of about 26 percent, had the lowest monthly spending at 51,198 lek (€374) for an average household of 3.3 people.
The central Albanian region of Elbasan also ranked the second poorest with a monthly consumption of 55,671 lek (€406) in a household of 4.1 people.
Among food expenditure, the three subgroups with the highest share of spending included “milk and its by-products” with 19 percent, “meat and by-products” with 17 percent, “bread and grains” with 17 percent.
Households’ spending on “rent, water, electricity and repairs” takes about 10 percent of their budget.
Albanian economy experts have recently calculated 16,000 lek (€115) per capita as the subsistence level in Albania, an indicator which Albania has been lacking for years, proves that current minimum wages and pensions are too small to lead a decent life for hundreds of thousands of workers and pensioners.
Calculations by experts of the Albanian Center for Economic Research showed the subsistence level in 2015 was at 16,000 lek a month per person, of which 7,100 lek (€51) on food expenditure and 8,900 lek(€64) in non-food spending.
Back in 2015, the same INSTAT survey found Albanian households considerably cut spending on food, drinks and restaurants in the previous five crisis years.
The survey measuring the budgets of some 7,800 households nationwide showed that spending on food and non-alcoholic beverages, the key item in the consumer basket, dropped by 5.3 percent from 2009 to 2014. Household spending on alcoholic beverages and tobacco also dropped by 9.9 percent compared to a sharp 33.4 percent decline on restaurants and hotels.
The wage freeze in the private sector and the slowdown of the Albanian economy since 2009 are estimated to have had a major role in the decrease of consumption which was also strongly supported by declining migrant remittances in the pre-crisis years.
Almost half of the Albanian population lives on less than $5 a day, worse than almost all regional countries, according to another World Bank report.
In its latest South East Europe Regular Economic Report, the World Bank says Albania’s poverty, measured against the regional standardized benchmark of US$5 a day (in 2005 purchasing power parity) was down by 1.5 percent to 46.2 percent of the population in 2016.
