Albanian emigration to the European Union has remained at high rates in the last 10 years, and is gradually surpassing the strong waves of departures of two or three decades ago, when the country was in a much worse economic state, after the transition from a centralized to a market economy in the early 1990s-2000s.
In 18 years, from 2008 to 2025, EU countries have granted around 1.1 million (1,082,224) first-time residence permits to Albanian citizens, according to Eurostat data processed by "Monitor".
For the period 2008-2016, a total of around 509.5 thousand residence permits were granted. The high figure is linked to the period 2008-2010, with around 70-100 thousand permits per year, when those who fled in the previous decade began to stabilize and obtain residence permits, mainly in Italy and Greece. These two countries together granted almost 90%% of the permits for the period (37% Greece and 53% Italy).
While immigration appeared to be stabilizing after 2012, with the number of permits halving, another wave began after 2016, which accelerated in the last decade.
For the period 2017-2025, another 573 thousand permits were issued, surpassing the previous decade. The figures clearly show that Albanians are continuing to leave at a higher rate, especially if we calculate it in relation to the population, which has decreased to 2.3 million inhabitants today, from 3 million inhabitants in 2006. (see graph).
Unlike the previous decade, when Italy and Greece were the main hosts of Albanian immigrants, the geography has expanded in recent years. For the period 2017-2025, Italy and Greece have jointly granted 62% of the total permits (41% Italy and 21% Greece).
Germany has emerged in recent years, attracting skilled workers and has issued 20% of permits for the period 2017-2025. In total, since 2008, Germany has issued 124,000 residence permits to Albanian citizens, ranking third. Italy continues to hold the lead, with 500,000 permits since 2008, followed by Greece with 311,000.
France, despite being the main destination for asylum seekers, grants very few residence permits. Since 2008, around 28,000 people have received residence permits in France, followed by Belgium with 14.3 thousand and Sweden with 13 thousand. The other countries have granted fewer than 10 thousand permits each.
Around 20,000 permits were granted by the UK between 2008 and 2018, with no data reported thereafter. Over the past decade, the UK has been a popular destination for Albanians, with asylum applications reaching over 14,000 in 2022, surpassing the EU total of 13.2 thousand that year.
Year 2025, Germany moves to second place for residence permits
According to Eurostat, 68,653 residence permits were granted for the first time to Albanian citizens in 2025, an increase of 4% compared to the previous year. The trend is the opposite of 2024, when permits fell by 14%.
In 2025, Germany was second in total for residence permits, with 17,000, compared to Italy's 31.7 thousand and Greece's 10,000. They were followed by France with just 2.4 thousand permits and Belgium with 1.3 thousand. The other countries issued fewer than 1,000 permits.
In 2025, according to Eurostat, 46.3% of leaves were granted for family reasons, 0.8% for education, 29.4% for employment./ Monitor.al
