With a total land area of 28,748 sq km, Albania is divided into 12 prefects, 36 districts, 64 municipalities and 310 communes. Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe. Around 25% of its people live in poverty, and many move from impoverished rural areas to the cities in search of work.

The population of the capital Tirana rose from 250,000 to 500,000 between 1995 and 2000 and is now thought to have reached one million. An estimated 600,000 people have left the country, around 20% of the population. Some have used criminal networks to get them to other countries, particularly Greece and Italy. Some, including children, have been trafficked. As families struggle to make ends meet, almost one quarter of children aged 5-14 are thought to be involved in child labour, with many children working in the streets and fields.

Almost half of Albania’s population (3,166,000 people) is under age 25--the highest proportion in Europe. This is also the age group hit early and hard by unemployment. The number of households headed by young women is rising, many of them living in poverty.

Poverty feeds into, and is fed by, discrimination. The most vulnerable groups in Albania are the Roma and Evjgit ethnic minorities, who have little education, poor health, high poverty rates and live at high risk of being trafficked. They also face daily discrimination.


Child protection concerns

Vulnerability factors

• Almost half of Albania’s people are under age 25, and one third are under age 18, making Albania the ‘youngest’ country in Europe. Unemployment hits young people first and hardest, and the number of families headed by young women is rising, many living in poverty. Almost one quarter of children aged 5-14 are thought to be involved in some kind of child labour.
• A poll conducted in 2001 found that 44% of young Albanians intended to move out of the country when they became adults. An estimated 600,000 people have left the country, one fifth of the population.

Deprivation of parental care

• The latest data show that, in 2002, 600 children lived in residential institutions, including 150 babies in infant homes.

Exposure to violence, exploitation and abuse

• Poverty has fuelled child trafficking, particularly to Greece and Italy, where reports indicate thousands of Albanian children on the streets. According to the Greek police, 90% of the 300 children arrested for begging each year in Athens are Albanian. In 2002, almost 95% of children trafficked from Albania came from ethnic minorities, the poorest and most disadvantaged of groups. The Government is clamping down on traffickers, and recent figures suggest that child trafficking is falling. However, there are fears that traffickers are simply going further and further underground.

Partners

UNICEF's main partners in its Child Protection Programme are the Ministries of Public Order, Justice, Education and Science, and Labour and Social Affairs, as well as NGOs, including Terre des Hommes, Help for Children (NPF), the Legal Clinic for Minors, Children of the World-Albania and the umbrella coalition All Together Against Child Trafficking.