Volume 19 - Article 11 | Pages 261–292  

Albania: Trends and patterns, proximate determinants and policies of fertility change

By Arjan Gjonca, Arnstein Aassve, Letizia Mencarini

This article is part of the Special Collection 7 "Childbearing Trends and Policies in Europe"

Abstract

For a very long time, Albania has had one of the highest levels of fertility in Europe: in 2002 the total fertility rate of 2.2 children per woman was the highest in Europe. Although this current level is high, the country has experienced a rapid fertility reduction during the last 50 years: a TFR decline from 7 to 2.2. This reduction has occurred in the absence of modern contraception and abortion, which indicates the significance of investments in the social agenda during the communist regime that produced policies with indirect effects on fertility. Most significant of these were policies focused on education, in particular on female education. Social and demographic settings for a further fertility reduction in Albania have been present since 1990. Contraception and abortion have been legalized and available since the early 1990s, but knowledge of their use is still not widespread in the country, largely due to the interplay between traditional and modern norms of Albanian society. This chapter points out that future fertility levels will be determined not only by new policies that might be introduced, but predominantly by the balance of this interplay.

Author's Affiliation

• Arjan Gjonca - London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom EMAIL
• Arnstein Aassve - Università Bocconi, Italy EMAIL
• Letizia Mencarini - Università Bocconi, Italy EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

What is your couple type? Gender ideology, housework sharing, and babies
Volume 32 - Article 30

Youth poverty and transition to adulthood in Europe
Volume 15 - Article 2

Happy parents’ tweets: An exploration of Italian Twitter data using sentiment analysis
Volume 40 - Article 25

Parents’ subjective well-being after their first child and declining fertility expectations
Volume 39 - Article 9

Youth prospects in a time of economic recession
Volume 29 - Article 36

Grandparenting and mothers’ labour force participation: A comparative analysis using the Generations and Gender Survey
Volume 27 - Article 3

Women´s wages and childbearing decisions: Evidence from Italy
Volume 22 - Article 19

Does fertility decrease household consumption?: An analysis of poverty dynamics and fertility in Indonesia
Volume 20 - Article 26

Gender equity and fertility intentions in Italy and the Netherlands
Volume 18 - Article 1

Similarities and differences between two cohorts of young adults in Italy: Results of a CATI survey on transition to adulthood
Volume 15 - Article 5

Old-Age Mortality in Germany prior to and after Reunification
Volume 3 - Article 1

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Educational trends in cohort fertility by birth order: A comparison of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
Volume 51 - Article 36    | Keywords: birth order, cohort analysis, cross-national study, England, family size, fertility, Northern Ireland, parity, Scotland, Wales

Is single parenthood increasingly an experience of less-educated mothers? A European comparison over five decades
Volume 51 - Article 34    | Keywords: age, children, cross-national comparison, education, Europe, family life course, inequality, single motherhood

Higher incomes are increasingly associated with higher fertility: Evidence from the Netherlands, 2008–2022
Volume 51 - Article 26    | Keywords: fertility, income, inequalities, Netherlands, parenthood

The transition to adulthood in Europe at the intersection of gender and parental socioeconomic status
Volume 51 - Article 23    | Keywords: Europe, Europe, event history, event history, gender, multilevel analysis, parental socio-economic status, stratification, transition to adulthood

The short- and long-term determinants of fertility in Uruguay
Volume 51 - Article 10    | Keywords: fertility, panel data, stages of female reproductive life, time series, Uruguay