Many legal Albanian residents leaving Greece for wealthier countries, latest report shows
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- Three in five legal foreign residents in Greece are Albanian, latest data shows.
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TIRANA, Sept. 27, 2022 - Citizens of Albania make up the largest group of legal foreign residents in Greece, making up 61 percent of the group, according to data released in August by the Greek Ministry for Migration and Asylum.
The official report notes that in 2022 there are 291,868 Albanian citizens with a valid residence permit in Greece.
The data also shows that many many legal Albanian residents are leaving Greece for wealthier countries as the number of Albanians with valid residence permits was significantly higher last year.
In August 2021, according to the Greek Ministry of Immigration and Asylum, 422,954 immigrants from Albania had a valid residence permit and constituted 63.07 percent of legal resident foreigners in Greece.
The large decrease in the number of regular Albanian immigrants in Greece after one year is related not only to the procedures for issuing residence permits and gaining of citizenship, but also to a dynamic movement of Albanian workers and their families to other European countries looking for better prospects.
Many Albanians who lived in Greece for years have recently emigrated to the countries of northern Europe and to Britain after difficulties in Greece with employment and rising prices.
The 2022 number also includes about 13,329 Albanian citizens who have been given the special designation "homogeneous" in their ID cards, identifying them as members of the Greek minority from Albania. Albanian citizens with that designation make up 67 percent of foreigners who have been granted this status, according to reporting by VoA.
In total, there could be more than half a million Albanian-born people in Greece as well as their children that are eligible for Albanian citizenship, but many have received Greek citizenship over the years and thus are no longer counted as foreigners.
Italy and Greece continue to host the lion's share of Albanians living abroad, but the latest data shows the numbers are increasing in Italy while declining in Greece, which is still suffering from economic uncertainty and decline in wages, becoming less attractive to Albanian migrants.
