TIRANA, May 24 – The number of divorces registered a historic high in 2015 when more than 5,000 couples nationwide officially ended their marriages, according to a newly released report by INSTAT, the country’s state statistical office.
Data shows some 5,255 couples divorced in 2015 which is an all-time high in Albania and the highest level during the past seven crisis years which is believed to the key reason for the increase in divorces. Back in 2009, soon after the onset of the global financial crises Albania registered some 3,600 divorces.
The number of marriages during the past seven years also dropped by 4.5 percent to about 25,000 with the divorce rate per 100 marriages increasing to 21, up from about 14 in 2009.
Experts explain the increase in divorces and a slight reduction in marriages with the economic crisis Albania has been facing since 2009 leading to lower income, job losses but also factors such as domestic violence, adultery, jealousy and recession in Greece and Italy, the country’s top trading partners and the hosts of about 1 million Albanian migrants.
The majority of couples filing for divorce have been married for less than years and it’s mostly women who take legal action. Domestic violence seems to be a key reason. About 15 percent of women aged between 15 to 49 say they have been physically attacked by their partners, according to a survey.
Aurela Anastasi, the director of the Center for Legal Civic Initiatives, says that while it’s mostly women who get child custody, the implementation of court decisions on child support is almost non-existent and divorced women also face economic violence.
“Divorced women face economic difficulty in raising their children under normal conditions and court decisions on the monthly allowances are not executed at an 80 percent rate,” said Anastasi.
Albania’s population is estimated to have declined by 6,276 residents to 2.88 million in 2015 with the median age at 34.7 years, compared to 30.6 years in 2001 and 26 years in 1990 just before the collapse of the communist regime when Albania boasted one of the world’s youngest populations.
Once the country with the highest fertility rate under communism, Albania saw its average number of children per woman drop to 1.67 in 2015, down from 3 in 1990 just before the transition to a multi-party system and a record 6 in the early 1960s, which along with massive migration has contributed to the population shrink and ageing.
Over 65,000 Albanians applied for asylum in EU countries last year accounting for 5 percent of asylum claims filed in 2015, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
