Albania Migrants Lack Pensions, Report Warns

Many Albanians could be let without pensions because so many people have emigrated, a new report from the Ombudsman's office warns.

An estimated one-third of Albania’s 3.2 million population has emigrated in the last two decades, following the collapse of Tirana’s reclusive Communist regime, which did not allow travel abroad.

“Due to the large migration as a percentage of the population, migrants’ social security contributions are split in two, in Albania and their country of residency,” the report notes.

“Because we have no agreement on social security contributions with Italy or Greece, the two countries with the largest migrant populations, Albanian migrants feel discriminated against, because they are deprived of pensions both at home and abroad,” it adds.

An estimated 650,000 Albanian migrants live in Greece and another 500,000 reside in Italy.

The report notes that the economic crisis in Europe, particularly in Greece and to some extent in Italy, has left many of these migrants unemployed.

“If the unemployment rate in Italy now is 12.2 per cent, among Albanian migrants the rate is 15.5 per cent,” the report says.

“The unemployment is high among women and the young, 17.2 per cent [for women] and for those aged 15 to 24, 39.5 per cent,” it added.

Although there is no data on the unemployment rate among migrants in Greece the situation is believed to be far worse there than in Italy.

This is considering the fact that the official unemployment rate for the whole population is 27.9 per cent, the highest in Europe.