Latest Eurostat figures show that at only 26 percent of the EU average, Albania’s per capita income is among the lowest in Europe.
TIRANA, Feb. 20 – The spending power of Albanians has increased less than any other country in the region when compared to the European average, according the latest Eurostat indicators.
According to Eurostat, Albania also has a per capita income that is among the lowest in Europe. It is only 26 percent of the EU average, ranking behind the other two countries at the regional bottom, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Despite Albania’s economic growth, which at positive levels bucks the regional trend, the income of Albanians is the lowest in the region, and its growth has been half that of neighbors like Montenegro and Macedonia, according to the report.
Eurostat said that between 2005 and 2008, Albanians’ income, compared with average EU countries, increased by 3 percent while those in Montenegro increased by 6 percent.
Beyond the numbers, experts also say that the figures need to be seen in the context of development in the region and the low level from which Albania started.
Albania’s real income has tripled since 1991, and just in the last six years, poverty has been divided by two, according to the World Bank.
The country has graduated into middle-level income, according to the World Bank, and now needs to work hard to get to the next level, achieving higher income through reforms on the institutional side and better implementation of laws that are already in the books.
