A study concerning the conspiracy theories in the Western Balkans published by the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group, suggests that Albania is the country with the highest number of supporters of conspiracy theories in the region. According to BiEPAG, in Albania “all theories, no matter how contradictory they are, have more believers than not. Most popular are the theories that attribute responsibility to China, but even the link to Bill Gates is considered to have a lot or some truth to it by more than 43% of the population.”
Overall there are 6 existing conspiracy theories regarding COVID-19 which are spread in the Western Balkan, as showed in the graphic below. In Albania, it is still widely believed that China had a role in the creation of the virus, with 65% of the participants confirming this theory. More than 50% of people also do not support the vaccine according to the BiEPAG/IPSOS survey.
In Kosovo, near half of the population with a college degree believes that “the pharma industry is spreading the disease, compared to just 22.2% with primary education.” For BiEPAG, these data sets suggest that conspiracy theories are well embedded in the society, and no one is immune against them, not even those having the proper education. Overall, around 80% of the participants in the survey believe at least in one of the conspiracy theories related to COVID-19. The data coming from Albania, Kosovo, and all the countries from the WB, reinforces the lack of trust that these societies have on the institutions. The consequences can be serious in many directions, from the public health issues, where people could resist the vaccination process, to the trust in the democratic processes, and finally, believing in conspiracy theories could antagonize states with each other, nurturing the conflictual discourse on politics.
The survey was conducted through telephone and online interviews, in a nationally representative sample consisting of minimum 1000 respondents aged 18+, by the following ratio: (phone + online, 90:10). The study comes only a couple of days after a report requested by the European Parliament suggested that Albania is facing the greatest challenge of disinformation in the Balkans (along with Bosnia and Hercegovina).
