Minister Delina Brahimaj's video message a few days ago was truly an act of propaganda that could simply be mocked. But beyond this attempt to keep alive the narrative of a "thriving Albania," international figures and the official ones that the government itself publishes show a completely different picture: a country where the perception of poverty, prices, salaries and the opportunity to build a dignified life are in drastic conflict with what is officially announced.
The Renaissance propaganda is increasingly turning into the style of conservative-communist propaganda, with the central axis passing between two main arguments:
1. the happiness and prosperity of the Albanian nation under the enlightened leadership of the Renaissance and its commander, the prime minister, as well as
2. the efforts of others to blacken Albania and the Renaissance leadership.
The main fact: 55% of Albanians surveyed said they have “more difficulties” or “with difficulty” managing to make ends meet. This figure is significantly higher when compared to the EU average of 17.4%. It seems that this fact angered the government, because it refuted their propaganda, and the Minister of Economy declared the figure as cooked up in opposition departments. The truth is that this figure came from EUROSTAT as part of the measurement that this institution makes of subjective poverty, that is, the measurement of the individual perception of individuals. EUROSTAT is not a department of the Albanian opposition and this refutes the claim that the Minister raises about this figure. But even if the way in which the indicator is measured has in itself a pronounced subjectivity, this shows that beyond the government propaganda, over half of Albanians feel poor.
Other facts that refute the Renaissance miracle:
According to EUROSTAT, Albania (June 2025) has the lowest minimum wage in Europe (excluding the former Soviet Union countries). This wage is even 34% less than the average minimum wage in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia – the open Balkans that our Prime Minister loved.
According to EUROSTAT, Albania (2024) has food prices 1% more expensive than the EU average (in fact, EUROSTAT does not need to tell us this much, because every Albanian who travels abroad and enters the supermarket immediately makes this calculation), while incomes are 41% of the EU average. The price jump in Albania began especially after 2018. If from 2005-2018 these prices were around 68-78% of the EU average, then they began to approach them and in 2023 they were 93% of the EU average.
According to INSTAT, the average gross monthly salary compared to ten years ago (2024 versus 2014) has a nominal increase of 70% and indexed to inflation of 42.4%. The salary increase has been higher in the last two years, under the influence of the increase in administration salaries. But compared to the region (excluding Kosovo) they are still 30% lower.
According to the Numbeo indicator (mid-2025), an average Albanian family needs to work for about 16.3 years to be able to buy an apartment (despite the fact that towers are being built everywhere in Albania). This period is the longest in all of Europe and is related to the level of income, but also to the acceleration of the increase in apartment prices. The Fischer index (which measures the average price of apartments sold, published by the Bank of Albania) increased by 44.5% compared to a year ago and 23.6% compared to the previous month.
According to the World Bank (2021), per capita health spending in Albania is $465, and of this amount, 60% is borne by Albanians out-of-pocket, and has been increasing since 2000 (around 52%), again having the highest level of out-of-pocket spending compared to all European countries. Meanwhile, for several consecutive years, in the state budget reviews at the end of the year, cuts in budgeted healthcare spending have been approved. The share of health in public spending ranged from 10.45% last year to 9.7% this year, even under the conditions when in the first nine months of 2025 the budget has a surplus of 47 billion lek.
According to INSTAT (2024), 40.5% of the Albanian population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This means that this part of the population meets at least one of the following criteria: is at risk of monetary poverty, with an income lower than 60% of the national average; has significant material or social deprivation, i.e. is unable to afford basic heating, utility bills, food, clothing, etc.; and lives in households with adults who work very little or not at all during the year. The truth is that three years ago this indicator was higher (44.5%), but EUROSTAT data show that this indicator is higher in Europe and twice the EU average (21%). In the large cities of Albania (Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan, Fier) 41.8% of the population is at risk of poverty, or almost twice the EU average.
According to the United Nations, Albania ranks 89th (out of 140 countries) in the 2025 happiness index, being the unhappiest in Europe (behind only Turkey), mainly due to corruption (this factor ranks Albania 114th), social support (111th).
According to the Vienna Institute for International Studies, Albania is among the countries with the slowest progress in convergence with the EU in the areas of education and health. Spending on education is 57% of the EU average, while on health it is 43%. According to Converge2.eu, Albania needs 39 years to reach the European level in health and more than 50 years to reach the level of education.
There are many other indicators that can be used to highlight Albanian troubles and unhappiness. But these are some of the most typical ones that refute the Renaissance propaganda synthesized in the ministerial monologue, confirming the perception that 55% of Albanians have that they are ending the month with difficulty.
The Minister is not allowed to distort these concepts, indicators and sources in a post-Gandist monologue, especially given the fact that she herself once headed INSTAT and should be more familiar with them than anyone else in that government.
But such a thing is expected to happen in a government that focuses on satisfying clientelism, the oligarchy. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, the actual budgets for the years 2017-2024 show that 84 billion lek were given for 12 concessions. For half of them (6 concessions, a total of 39 billion lek) investigative procedures have been opened or have begun by SPAK with charges of corruption, abuse of office and even money laundering.
This mountain of corruption certainly inspires propaganda monologues, but the numbers bring it to the ground.
