TIRANA, Dec. 1 – The Interior Ministry said last week it was starting a new drive to fully identify and register resident addresses and properties across Albania.
Officials say Albania still lacks a full residents register following two and a half post-communist decades of massive internal and external migration, unplanned management of properties and illegal construction.
Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri has said the aim is to get clear data on the resident population of the country.
There are about 4.4 million Albanian citizens worldwide, but the country’s resident population varies from 2.8 to 3.2 million.
The government does not know exactly how many Albanians are abroad, living and residing in different countries and that makes it hard to learn the number of the resident population and where they live inside Albania, according to the minister
The 2011 national census helped some in that aspect, but it is held only once in a decade and authorities need fresh numbers for electoral and service purposes, experts say.
The government will now start to create a real-time and adaptable register for residents, homes and other properties.
“We night be the only country in the world without a register of citizens and addresses,” said the minister at a press conference.
