In a year when births in Albania continued to fall and the country lost population again, the ratio of boys to girls at birth remains above the level considered biologically normal. INSTAT data shows that in 2024, 12.094 boys and 11.216 girls were born in Albania, or 108 boys for every 100 girls. The report itself notes that the natural rate is 105.
The deviation becomes even stronger in the fourth and subsequent births. According to the INSTAT table, in this category the ratio reaches 113 boys per 100 girls, while even in the first and third births the ratio remains above the biological norm.
In the same report, INSTAT highlights that the total number of births in the country fell to 23.310 in 2024, with 307 births less than the previous year. The synthetic fertility rate remains at 1.64 children per woman, well below the level of 2.1 considered necessary for natural population replacement.
The sex ratio at birth is one of the most closely followed indicators by international organizations, as in many countries persistent deviations from the biological norm have historically been linked to a preference for sons. Albania has been mentioned for years in international demographic analyses as one of the Balkan countries where this ratio has consistently remained above the natural average.
Marsida Simo, a sociologist, tells Monitor that in countries where this phenomenon has been strong, such as China or India, it has been seen that a portion of men are left out of creating families, affecting fertility, family consumption and social stability. According to her, for Albania this becomes even more problematic because it is related to two crises that are occurring in parallel: the decline in birth rates and the massive emigration of young people.
The INSTAT report comes at a time when the country's demographic structure is changing rapidly. Albania's population fell to 2.36 million inhabitants at the end of 2024, while the age group over 65 continues to grow and net migration remains negative for both genders. / Monitor
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