The phenomenon ofmigration from Albania is recorded since the earlyMiddle Ages, when numerous Albanians immigrated to southern Italy and Greece to escape various socio-political difficulties and the Ottoman conquest. The modern Albanian diaspora has been largely formed since 1991, following the end ofcommunism in Albania. Over 800,000 Albanians have left the country, mostly settling in Greece and Italy either permanently or as temporary workforce.[1][2]
In regard to theKosovo-Albanian diaspora, more than one million Albanians have left Kosovo since the late 1980s permanently, excluding those fleeing theKosovo War, who have subsequently returned.[3] Further, important destinations for emigrating Albanians from Kosovo have been mostlySwitzerland,Austria,Germany and theNordic countries.[4]
The Albanian diaspora constitutes one of Europe's largest contemporary diasporas, with emigration constantly growing.[5] Those of Albanian descent may choose to self-identify as Albanian, adopt hybrid identities or opt to not identify with their Albanian ancestry.[6] Many contemporary Albanians who belong to the diaspora opt to declare their ethnicity as their nationality, as seen in census underreporting of ethnic Albanians primarily in North America, South America and Oceania. Due to the Albanian diaspora being large, old and complex, many Albanians abroad have intermarried, assimilated or formed transnational identities and communities.[7] These reasons, among others, serve as obstacles to identifying the true extent of the Albanian diaspora and population totals.
In Albania, emigration dates back to the 15th century, when many Albanians emigrated toCalabria in Southern Italy and Greece after the defeat of the country by Ottoman forces. Other popular destinations wereTurkey,Bulgaria, and later theUnited States andSouth America. Following the communist take over afterWorld War II, emigration was outlawed and violations severely punished. At the same time, Albanian birth rates in both Albania and Kosovo were among the highest in Europe (seeDemographics of Albania andKosovo), and the economies were among the weakest (especially under theHoxha regime), leading to a huge young population in both regions and a consequently huge demand for emigration once the borders were opened in the 1990s. Two major emigration waves in the 1990s were:
TheAlbanian population inTurkey was created in three large waves of emigration in different period times. The first one was the deportation of Albanians fromKosovo in 1910, when 120,000 thousand Albanians were deported to Turkey by theSerbian authority. The second one was in 1926-1938, when about 400,000 emigrated to Turkey. The last one was afterWorld War II, in 1953-1966, when nearly 400,000 were forced to emigrate to Turkey from Kosovo.[8]
Post-1990 wave after the collapse of communism in Albania in the form of break-ins at foreign embassies and departures by ship, esp. to Italy.
The preference for Italy, Greece and Western European countries during the first waves of emigration has given way to Canada and the United States due to stricter European immigration laws.
The rate of emigration has gradually decreased during the later 2000s, with a sudden increase in 2014-15.[9]
The willingness of Albanians to emigrate has had a cultural impact which has not affected their sense of national identity. Among ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Greece, Albanian and old Turkish names still are quite common. In Albania proper, religious names were not allowed during communism, and were barely given since the fall of the Communist dictatorship and the opening of the borders. Instead,Italian and English orChristian names, became quite common.[10] Many Albanian migrants also convert fromIslam toChristianity.[11]
In Albania, it is also estimated that emigrantremittances account for 18% of GDP or $530 million annually, though declining in the late 2000s.[12] Those who have come back have opened micro-enterprises, while the proximity of Greece and Italy to Albania, where more than half of immigrants are located has contributed to continuous labor mobility.[13] Recently, during theGreek financial crisis, many Albanian emigrants have returned either temporarily or permanently to Albania.[14] The mass emigration of the 1990s to early 2000s has resulted in massivebrain drain from Albania. In the period 1990–2003, an estimated 45% of Albania's academics emigrated, as did more than 65% of the scholars who received PhDs in the West in the period 1980–1990.[15] In 2006, a "brain gain" program compiled by Albanian authorities and theUNDP was put into action to encourage the skilled diaspora to contribute to the country's development, though its success remains to be seen.
On 26 November 2019,an earthquake struck Albania. Around the world, the Albanian diaspora (from Albania and other parts of the Balkans) expressed its solidarity[16] and held multiple fundraisers to send money to Albania and assist people impacted by the earthquake, raising millions.[17][18][19] Global pop stars with an Albanian background also appealed to fans for support and donations to the relief effort.[20][21]
Members of the Albanian diaspora created the first IPTV platform in the US and later in Europe, designed to deliver their national video content to Albanians living in the US and other countries.[22]
In 1636, theMandritsa, a typical village in Bulgaria, was found by Eastern Orthodox Albanian dairymen who supplied the Ottoman Army. They were allowed to pick a tract of land and were freed from taxes. In the 2001 census of Bulgaria, it was estimated that 278 Albanians live in the country.
After the fall of communism throughout Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a large number of economic refugees and immigrants from Greece's neighbouring countries, Albania,Bulgaria,North Macedonia,Romania, as well as from more distant countries such asRussia,Ukraine,Armenia andGeorgia, arrived in Greece, mostly as illegal immigrants, to seek employment. The vast majority of the Albanians in Greece is estimated to be between 65–70% of the total number of immigrants in the country. According to the 2001 census, there are 443,550 holders of Albanian citizenship in Greece, with the total of Albanian immigrants in Greece numbering well over 650,000.[23]
Albanians in Greece are by far the most integrated, legal and settled community.
TheAlbani were anaristocraticRoman family, members of which attained the highest dignities in theRoman Catholic Church, one,Clement XI, having beenPope. They were ethnicAlbanians who originally moved toUrbino from the region ofMalësi e Madhe inAlbania.[24] and had been soldiers ofSkanderbeg against theOttoman Empire. Though eventually assimilated in their Italian environment, Clement XI's Albanian antecedents were evident in his having commissioned, during his reign as a Pope, the famousIllyricum Sacrum. Today it is one of the main sources of the field ofAlbanology, with over 5000 pages divided in several volumes written byDaniele Farlati and Dom. Coletti.
There is an Albanian community in southern Italy, known asArbëreshë, who had settled in the country in the 15th and the 16th century, displaced by the changes brought about by theexpansion of the Ottoman Empire. Some managed to escape and were offered refuge from the repression by the Kingdom ofNaples and Kingdom ofSicily (both under Aragonese rule), where the Arbëreshë were given their own villages and protected.[25]The Arbëreshë were estimated as numbering 250 000 in 1976.[26] Italian statistics place them much lower at 100,000.[27]
After the breakdown of the communist regime in Albania in 1990, Italy had been the main immigration target for Albanians leaving their country.
This was because Italy had been a symbol of the West for many Albanians during the communist period, because of its geographic proximity. Italy reacted to the migration pressure by introducing the "Martelli" law, stipulating that any immigrant who could prove that he or she had come into the country before the end of 1989 be granted a two-year residency permit.From March 1997, Italy instituted a strict patrol of the Adriatic in an attempt to curb Albanian immigration.As a result, many Albanian immigrants in Italy do not have a legal status. Out of an estimated 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Italy in 1998, only some 82,000 were registered with authorities. In total there are 800,000 Albanians in Italy.[28]
The Italian Government has housed significant numbers of Albanians from Kosovo in the Arbëresh settlements, most notably in the zone ofLungro inCalabria andPiana degli Albanesi in Sicily.
Turkey has about six million citizens of full or partial Albanian descent,[29] and most still feel a connection to Albania. There is also a Turkish minority in Kosovo.
Albania was the last nation in southeastern Europe to claim independence from the Ottoman Empire, on 28 November 1912.
Many Albanians emigrated to Turkey between 1950 and 1970. In that period,Islam inYugoslavia was repressed, and both Albanians and Muslim Slavs were encouraged to declare themselves Turkish and emigrate to Turkey. In the 1990s, Turkey received a wave ofKosovar refugees, fleeing fromconflict. Today, the number of ethnic Albanians Turkey has about 5 million citizens of full or partial Albanian descent[30]
There are an estimated 250,000 ethnic Albanians in Switzerland, most of them from Kosovo, a sizeable minority arriving from North Macedonia.[31] Albanians have migrated to Switzerland since the 1960s,[32] but bulk of immigration took place during the 1990s, especially during 1998–1999.They account for about 2% of total Swiss population, making them the third largest immigrant community in Switzerland, after the Italian and German ones. TheAlbanian language is the second largestimmigrant language spoken in Switzerland, followingSerbo-Croatian. About 40,000 have been naturalized as Swiss citizens during the 1990s and 2000s, while an estimated 150,000 remain registered as nationals of eitherSerbia and Montenegro (carrying passports issued during the existence of that country, 1992–2006), theRepublic of Kosovo (34,000 Kosovar passports registered with the Swiss authority by August 2010), North Macedonia, or Albania.
The history of Albanians in Britain began in the 16th century with the arrival of mercenarystratioti cavalry who served the English king in his wars against the Kingdom of Scotland.[33]
The2021 UK Census recorded 67,957 people born in Albania resident in England, with 715 people in Wales, and 142 people in Northern Ireland.[34] The number of residents of England born in Kosovo was 30,427, with 90 recorded in Wales and 60 in Northern Ireland.[34]
Albania has one embassy in the UK, located in London.[35]
NeitherAlbania norPortugal have an embassy in their respective countries. Albania has 3honorary consulates inPorto,Funchal (Madeira island) andLisbon, while Portugal has anhonorary consulate inTirana.[36][37][38] The history of diplomatic relations of Albania and Portugal dates back to 1922, when Portugal recognized Albania'sindependence on May 25, 1922. Many Portuguese enterprises are active in Albania.[39] As of 2022 there are an estimated 160 people of recent Albanian immigrant background living inPortugal, the majority being foreign nationals.[40] They are highly integrated and around 70 have acquired Portuguese citizenship in 2008-2021.[41] The most famous Portuguese-Albanian is perhaps former footballerEduard Abazaj. Albanians mostly migrated to Portugal in recent years and they mainly live in Lisbon.[42] During the last years there have been some problems dealing with drug trafficking,[43][44] illegal migration (more than 500 people travelling with forged documents detected since 2010),[45][46]Albanian mafia[47] and robberies.[48][49][50] Despite these problems, the vast majority of the Albanians residing in Portugal is well integrated. Moreover, many of those involved in crime aren't even Portuguese residents.[citation needed]
As defined by theStatistics Canada in 2011, there were 28,270 Canadians claiming an Albanian ancestry.[51] There have been Albanian settlers in Canada since at least the early 20th century, following internal pre-war revolutionary upheavals. The majority of the Albanian immigrants settled in eitherMontreal orToronto but also inCalgary andPeterborough.
After the inter-ethnic conflict between ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Serbian military and police forces, many Albanians left Kosovo as refugees. Some have come to Canada, and in 1999 the Canadian government created a program to offer safe haven to 7000Kosovar Albanian refugees. They continue to appreciate their ethnic heritage and their Albanian national history, even though their ancestors may have left Albania several decades ago. Those Albanians from Albania proper are active in their business and social organisations.
Albanians began to settle in the USA in the late 19th-20th centuries from Southern Albania,Greece,Turkey, SouthernItaly andKosovo, and in the 1990s fromAlbania,Montenegro,North Macedonia, and refugees of war. The largest Albanian American (incl. Kosovar Albanian) populations are inNew York City,Boston,Detroit,Jacksonville, andChicago. Another Albanian American community inSouthern California such as theLos Angeles area. TheInland Empire (Riverside/San Bernardino) area of California includes Kosovars who entered the United States at the March Joint Air Reserve Base in Riverside. The Albanian-American population is currently 224,000 or 0.04% of the US population.
The 2016 Australian census counted 4,041 people born in Albania or Kosovo and 15,901 claimed Albanian ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry.[52] Albanians migrated to Australia from southern Albania during the interwar period (early 1920s-late 1930s) mainly from Korçë and its surrounding rural areas.[53][54][55] They worked in hard labour jobs and farming, settled in northern Western Australia, Queensland and later Shepparton in Victoria were a successful community was established.[56] Post-war, refugees mainly from Albania and a few from southern Yugoslavia arrived.[57][58][59] In the 1960s-1970s, Albanians from southwestern Yugoslavia (modern North Macedonia) arrived and settled in Melbourne's working class and manufacturing suburbs, mainly in Dandenong and others in the western and northern suburbs.[60][61] During the aftermath of the Kosovo war (1999), some Kosovo Albanian refugees on temporary asylum were officially allowed to permanently remain in Australia.[62][63][64] In the early twenty first century, Dandenong and Shepparton in Victoria are places with the highest concentrations of Albanians.[65] There are also Albanian communities in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.[66]
Albanian migration to New Zealand occurred mid twentieth century following theSecond World War.[67][68][69] A small group of Albanian refugees originating mainly from Albania and the rest from Yugoslavian Kosovo and Macedonia settled in Auckland.[69][70][71] During theKosovo crisis (1999), up to 400 Kosovo Albanian refugees settled in New Zealand.[72][73][74] In the twenty first century, Albanian New Zealanders number 400-500 people and are mainly concentrated inAuckland.[75][71]
Emigration has been one of the main causes that has driven the decline of the number of Albanian population during 2002-2011. The phenomenon of migration in Albania Immigration has been common. In most cases it has been taken by males. Gender difference in the last census period (2001-2011) is not that pronounced. According toINSTAT during this period about 481.000 Albanians left and 243,000 of them were male. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Developing countries most preferred destination for emigrants wereItaly andGreece, followed byUnited States (US),United Kingdom (UK), andGermany. Italy is the country of destination preferred by 47 percent of immigrants, followed by Greece with 43 percent of emigrants, and the United States (US) coming up as a third destination.
Regarding the return, data Population and Housing Census 2011 show that about 139,827 Albanians were returned to Albania in the period 2001-2011, mostly male. Returnees are relatively young and working age. Employment and family reasons dominate among the reasons to return. In this sense, the return migration captured in the census is a snapshot of continuous circular migration. The National Research survey demonstrates that a total of 133,544 Albanian immigrants aged 18 years and above are turning in Albania in 2009-2013, of which 98,414 men and 35,130 women. This is a big difference report of returnees by sex, where men are over represented compared with women, 73.7% and 26.3% respectively. Since 2009 there has been a growing trend of returns, while the majority of the returns occurred in 2012 and 2013 (53.4 percent). Returns, dominated voluntary returns (94 percent) occurred in Greece, 70.8 percent to 23.7 percent followed by Italy and other countries like the UK, Germany, etc. Therefore, it can be argued that returns in Albania are mainly a consequence of the2008 financial crisis that hit the market. The survey findings show that the main reasons for emigration from Albania have been unemployment in the country and opportunities for better employment abroad along with opportunities for higher incomes. No significant gender difference in immigration is a reason, besides family reunion that seems to have been the main reason for migration. On return, the main reasons include loss of employment in the country immigration, the longing for family and country, as well as problems faced by the family inAlbania. Other reasons for return include better employment opportunities in Albania, investment plans or health problems.[122]
Fatmire Bajramaj, female football player. She moved to 1. FFC Frankfurt for the 2011–12 season: the transfer is the most expensive in women's Bundesliga history.
Giorgio Basta, Italian general ofArbëreshë descent, employed by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to command Habsburg forces in the Long War of 1591–1606 and later to administer Transylvania as an Imperial vassal to restore Catholicism as a predominant religion in Transylvania
Francesco Crispi, Italian politician of Arbëreshë ancestry. He was instrumental in theunification of Italy and was its 17th and 20th Prime Minister from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896.
Joe DioGuardi, Albanian-American certified public accountant and a Republican politician
Tie Domi, Canadian professional ice hockey player. During a 16-year NHL career when he was known for his role as an enforcer, he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets.
Eliza Dushku, Albanian-American actress known for her television roles
Lee Elia, Albanian-American former professional baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball
Farouk I of Egypt (11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965), tenth ruler (Muhammad Ali Dynasty) and penultimate King of Egypt and Sudan, 1936. He was of Albanian, Egyptian and Turkish descent.
Muhammad Ali Pasha, regarded as the founder of modern Egypt, he was a commander of the Ottoman SultanMahmud II's army sent to driveNapoleon's forces out of Egypt: upon French withdrawal, became Governor of Egypt (1805), then Khedive (Viceroy) of Egypt and Sudan. He founded a dynasty.
Anna Oxa, Albanian-Italian singer, born as Anna Hoxha.
Regis Philbin, Albanian-American media personality, actor and singer, known for hosting talk and game shows from the 1960s to the present
Oruç Reis, also called Barbarossa or Redbeard, Turkish privateer and Ottoman Bey (Governor) of Algiers and Beylerbey (Chief Governor) of the West Mediterranean
Girolamo de Rada (Arbëresh: Jeronim de Rada) (1814–1903), Italian writer of Italo-Albanian literature of Arbëreshë descent: he was the foremost figure of the Albanian National Awakening in 19th century Italy.
^Barjaba, Joniada. "Albanian Diaspora across the World." Athens Journal of Mediterranean Studies: 173.
^Mai, Nicola, and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers. "Albanian migration and new transnationalisms." Journal of ethnic and migration studies 29, no. 6 (2003): 939-948.
^Demmers, Jolle. "Diaspora and conflict: Locality, long-distance nationalism, and delocalisation of conflict dynamics." Javnost-The Public 9, no. 1 (2002): 85-96.
^Armand Feka (16 July 2013)."Griechenlands verborgene Albaner".Wiener Zeitung. Archived fromthe original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved2 March 2016.Er lächelt und antwortet in einwandfreiem Griechisch: ‚Ich bin eigentlich auch ein Albaner.'
^abManaging Migration: The Promise of Cooperation. By Philip L. Martin, Susan Forbes Martin, Patrick Weil
^Herbermann, Charles George; Knights of Columbus, Catholic Truth Committee (1913).The Catholic Encyclopedia. The New York Public Library: Robert Appleton Company. p. 255. Retrieved12 May 2010.
^Domachowska, Agata (2019)."Albania". In Mazurkiewicz, Anna (ed.).East Central European migrations during the Cold War: A handbook. De Gruyter. p. 15.ISBN9783110607536.
^Pratt, Douglas (2011). "Antipodean Ummah: Islam and Muslims in Australia and New Zealand".Religion Compass.5 (12): 744.doi:10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00322.x.
Devere, Heather; McDermott, Keryn; Verbitsky, Jane (2006).""Just a refugee": Rights and Status of Refugees in New Zealand". In Crépeau, François; Nakache, Delphine; Collyer, Michael; Goetz, Nathaniel H.; Hansen, Art (eds.).Forced Migration and Global Processes: A View from Forced Migration Studies. Lexington Books. pp. 357,359–360.ISBN9780739155059.
Labrianidis, Lois; Brikena Kazazi. “Albanian Return-Migrants from Greece and Italy: Their Impact upon Spatial Disparities within Albania.”European Urban and Regional Studies 13, no. 1 (2006): 59–74
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