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Vokshi in Strasbourg: The departure of young people from Albania is eroding the foundations of democracy

2026-01-29 11:19:00, Aktualitet CNA

Vokshi in Strasbourg: The departure of young people from Albania is eroding the

Democratic Party MP and EPP Women Vice President Albana Vokshi spoke at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg regarding the departure of young people from Albania.

Vokshi has described this as a serious crisis of democracy, while emphasizing that over 1.1 million Albanians have left in the last decade, mainly young people. Vokshi further said that the departure of youth is undermining democratic representation and the future of the country.

"In Albania, students and young people have made history. In the 1990s, they rose up and overthrew the communist dictatorship. History teaches us what the power of youth is. When youth rise up, regimes fall! When youth leave, democracy erodes!

Today, Albania is facing a youth exodus. According to Eurostat, in the last decade alone, 1.1 million Albanians have left for EU countries. 78% of Albanian asylum seekers are under the age of 34. 80% of students, 59% of high school graduates and 95% of those studying abroad want to leave and never return.

The latest Transition Report of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, published a few weeks ago, confirms this alarm. Albania has lost 40% of its population through emigration and a quarter of its highly educated citizens have left. This is not an economic crisis, this is a crisis of democracy! Because when young people leave, they take with them not only their skills, but also their voice, their vote and the power to hold institutions accountable.

The consequence is deeply worrying. Elections in our countries are increasingly being decided by those who remain, not by those who will live in the future. In the last elections in Albania, over 42% of voters were pensioners.

Young people leave because they lack hope; because they feel politically excluded and unrepresented; because public administration is governed by networks of patronage rather than merit; because they cannot afford housing, cannot find decent work, cannot cope with the high cost of living and the growing poverty of young people. Youth emigration and the aging population are now a direct threat to Albania’s economic and social stability.

"This Assembly has given the answer! If we want young people to stay, we must give them dignity, opportunities and a real voice, so that they do not leave the country, but are heard and contribute to the future of the country," said Vokshi.  /CNA





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