Albania

The National Youth Strategy 2022-2029 (SKR) aims to “increase and improve opportunities, services and support for young people and in cooperation with young people in Albania.” The strategy has three main policy goals, which are then accompanied by more specific targets.

Published on October 25, 2023
Updated on February 22, 2024

Definition of youth

According to Law No. 75/2019 For Youth, youth is defined as those between the ages of 15 to 29 years old.

Definition 1
15 - 29 years
Definition 2

Voting Rights

Majority age
18 years
Voting age
18 years
Criminal responsibility
15 years

Candidacy age

Lower House
18 years
Upper House
--- (unicameral)
President
--- (tbc)

Marriage & Gender

Without parental consent
Female
18 years
Male
18 years
With parental consent
Female
18 years
Male
18 years

Source: UNSD, UNDESA, ILGA

Is same-sex marriage legalized?
Female
No
Male
No

Source: UNSD, UNDESA, ILGA

Are other genders recognised?
No
diverse, female, intersex, male, transgender

Policy & Legislation

Is there a national youth policy?
Yes

The National Youth Strategy 2022-2029 (SKR) aims to "increase and improve opportunities, services and support for young people and in cooperation with young people in Albania." The strategy has three main policy goals, which are then accompanied by more specific targets:

  1. Young women and young people actively participate in society and feel empowered to express themselves with their voice. Intersectoral youth policies are coordinated, based on analysis, with well-funded mechanisms.
  2. Youth innovation is supported and encouraged and the skills and professionalism of young people are increased through quality education in ICT and other areas of digital development, thus increasing and improving opportunities to enter the labour market.
  3. Youth are active, social, and physically and mentally healthy. Youth are secure and protected. All young people are included in all their diversity, especially for those young people who are in a situation of risk or social exclusion (vulnerability).

Public Institutions

Is there a governmental authority that is primarily responsible for youth?
Yes

Before 2021, the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth was the primary authority responsible for youth, with a dedicated Deputy Minister for Youth and a Directorate of Youth. However, Decision No. 524 of the Council of Ministers, dated 22 September 2021, created the Minister of State for Youth and Children (MSHRF). While the Ministry of Education and Sports (MAS) still plays an important role in youth policies because of its areas of responsibility, the MSHRF is now the primary authority responsible for youth. TheMSHRF aims to protect the rights of young people and guarantee their participation in social life by creating and implementing youth policies and by strengthening the involvement of young people in decision making processes.

Youth & Representation

Does the country have a national youth organization or association?
Unclear

According to Law No. 75/2019 For Youth, "The National Youth Council is an advisory body that functions under the minister responsible for youth." It is chaired by the minister responsible for youth and has 14 to 16 members, of which at least half must represent youth and/or youth organisations. The National Youth Council is responsible for:

  • Presenting priority areas for youth policies, budgets and activities;
  • Proposing the main directions and programmes for supporting and strengthening youth participation;
  • Giving opinions on the drafting of the National Youth Strategy, monitoring its implementation, and approving the annual report.

No current online presence of the National Youth Council can be found. However, a National Youth Congress (KRK) exists, which is currently a candidate member for the European Youth Forum under the National Youth Council category. The KRK is not a public body and does not resemble the administrative structure of the National Youth Council outlined in Decision No. 969/2020.

Youth work

Is youth work a formally recognised profession?
Yes

According to Law No. 75/2019 For the Youth,

"Youth work is any activity of a social, cultural, educational, environmental nature by, with or for young people, in groups or individually, that aims to motivate and support young people, contributing to their personal and social development and in the development of society in general."

One goal of the National Youth Strategy 2022-2029 (SKR) is to recognise informal learning; competences acquired through non-formal education; and youth work, on the basis of definitions of the youth work profession through the National Qualifications Framework, and in coordination with the European Youth Work Portfolio. Another objective of the SKR is to revise the youth law to further develop the processes of creating youth organisations, youth representation, and youth work.

Budget & Spending

Does the national youth policy have a dedicated budget?
Yes

Despite the creation of the Minister of State for Youth and Children (MSHRF) in 2021, the Report on the Draft of the 2023 Budget does not include a budget allocation to the MSHRF. Instead, the report mentions the "Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth" as a whole, which is allocated ALL 17.6 billion (USD 18.5 million). Nevertheless, it is unclear if this budget also pertains to youth.

Additionally, the National Youth Strategy 2022-2029 (SKR) provides its own budget of ALL 5.6 billion (USD 50.1 million) over eight years. Each specific policy objective of the strategy has its own detailed budget, of which part is state funded and part is funded by donors.

Contextual Figures

Liberal Democracy Index
484
Youth Progress Index
74.3

Economic Indicators

GDP per capita
$6377.2
Human Development Index
0.796
Gini coefficient
29.4

Additional background

According to the Albanian Report on "Mapping of Youth Policies and Identification of Existing Support and Gaps in Financing of Youth Actions in the Western Balkans,"

"According to INSTAT, the youth population (ages 15-29) in Albania has decreased from 24.91% in 2016 to 23.4% in 2020. Official data shows a decline of 4.69% in the number of young people in education, particularly at the high school and university levels from 2018 to 2020. In 2019, young people aged 15-29 not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) made up to 28.9% of young people in total. The official youth unemployment rate is 20.7% as of December 2020. There are no specific data on youth migration, but various sources consulted for this report note that young, highly educated, and skilled individuals are more likely to leave Albania."

According to the National Youth Strategy 2022-2029 (SKR), at the end of the policy period of the National Action Plan for Youth 2015-2020 (PKVR), a Final Report of the Evaluation of the National Action Plan for Youth 2015-2020 was made by the Ministry of Education and Sports (MAS) with the support of the UNFPA. The report, summarised in the SKR 2022-2029, found that 40% of the 161 indicators of the PKVR were fully realised and 16% were partially realised. For each of the six main objectives of the PKVR, the report noted:

  • For the first objective, "The growth and participation of young people in democratic decision-making processes," the evaluation report emphasises that the strengthening of the structures and capacities of youth organisations and the representation of young people in decision-making processes should continue.
  • For the second objective, "Increasing the employment of young people through effective labour market policies," the assessment emphasises the achievements related to the improvement of the legal framework for employment practices and the increase in the level of professional qualifications of young people in accordance with the developmentof accreditation systems. On the other hand, the strengthening of sources of information on employment should be further developed and improved.
  • For the third objective, "Health, sport and the environment," the evaluation notes that there are improvements both in the legal framework of policies for the protection of health and the extension of health education in institutions and curricula of pre-university education. There have also been developments in the field of environmental awareness. Even in this objective, dissemination of information and better and distributed planning throughout the year of activities remains problematic.
  • For the fourth objective, "Education of the youth," the assessment highlights the improvements in the legal framework that has paved the way for reforms, but on the other hand, much remains to be done for the integration of minority children. The digitisation of teaching and learning processes also remains problematic, especially in relation to learning processes during the pandemic shutdown
  • For the fifth objective, "Social protection," much remains to be done for the creation of social care standards for all types of subjects in relation to services for drug addiction and young people with HIV/AIDS. The activities undertaken in this field require even more.
  • For the sixth objective, "Culture and volunteering," it seems that there is a lack of a law that regulates the relationship between volunteers and organisations providing volunteering.

The findings of this evaluation and the problems encountered in the implementation of the PKVR were taken into account in the drafting of the SKR.

Sources

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Updates

  • Update 22.02.2024: Updated broken link in source
  • Update 20.02.2024: Corrected small formatting errors