The judicial system in the country remains significantly below European Union standards in terms of the ratio of judges to residents, according to data from the latest report by the High Judicial Council.
According to data from the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), the European average is 21.9 judges per 100,000 inhabitants. In Albania, this indicator is significantly lower in all measurements used by the judicial structure.
Specifically, according to the organizational structure (decree), the country registers 17.35 judges per 100 thousand inhabitants. According to the actual structure, this ratio drops to 14.32 judges per 100 thousand inhabitants. While according to the effective structure, the figure decreases further to 12.73 judges per 100 thousand inhabitants.
At the organizational level, the ratio of judges to administrative staff serving one judge in Albania is 3.13, or about 3.13 employees for each judge. According to the actual staffing, this indicator increases slightly to 3.5 staff per judge, while in the effective staffing it reaches 3.9 administrative staff per judge.
In all cases, Albania remains below the CEPEJ European average, which is 4.12 administrative staff per judge. Even in this indicator, support resources for judges remain lower compared to the European Union standard.
This gap becomes more visible at the level of organizational structure, where the difference to the European average is more pronounced. The number of non-judicial staff per 100 thousand inhabitants in Albania for 2025 is 50.16, according to the actual structure. In comparison, the European average for 2022 stands at 55.5 employees per 100 thousand inhabitants.
The HLC data confirms that the gap with the EU remains constant in recent years, with Albania remaining below the CEPEJ European threshold in all scenarios. This, as often highlighted in the reports, places justice reform in the face of a human capacity challenge, as the increase in the number of cases in the courts deepens the pressure on the existing system.
Official data show that during the reference year (2025), a total of 306 judges effectively exercised the function of judge in courts of all levels. In the same period, this means that the judicial system has functioned at about 73.38% of its capacity./Monitor.al/
