Bulgarians are the Fourth Largest Minority in Albania

In Albania, 7,057 individuals identified themselves as Bulgarians, based on data released by "Top Channel." This marks the first census after Bulgaria's national minority was officially recognized in Albania in 2017. The recent census, which took place between September 18 and November 15, 2023, shows the country's population at 2,412,113, reflecting a decline of nearly 420,000 from the 2011 census, as reported by the economic magazine "Monitor." The population has decreased by 13.8 percent since the last census.

The director of the Albanian Statistical Institute mentioned that the population is divided into 755,950 families, averaging 3.2 members per family. She noted that there are 1,082,529 ordinary homes in the country, with 11 percent being uninhabited. Detailed data for each district and locality is yet to be released, with final census results expected in December 2024.

In addition to the Bulgarians, the census identified other minority communities in Albania. These include Greeks (23,485 people), Montenegrins (511), Aromanians (2,459), Roma (9,813), Egyptians or Ashkali (12,375), Bosniaks (2,963), Serbs (584), and Macedonians (2,281). Additionally, 3,798 people indicated another ethno-cultural affiliation, 770 people identified as having a mixed ethno-cultural affiliation, and 1,142 did not indicate any ethnicity. A total of 13,507 respondents chose "prefer not to answer" regarding their ethnicity.

Religious affiliation was another key aspect of the census. The data reveals 201,530 Catholics, 173,645 Orthodox Christians, 9,658 Evangelicals, 1,101,718 Muslims, 115,644 Bektashis, and 85,311 atheists. Furthermore, over 332,000 Albanians identified as believers without specifying a religion, and 244,331 did not wish to answer questions...