Albanian diaspora

The Albanian diaspora encompasses Albanians outside of Albania, Kosovo, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The greatest concentrations are found inItaly, Greece and Turkey. There are also smaller communities in Austria, Canada, France, Romania, Belgium, Russia, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Ukraine, UK, and theUSA

The Albanian exodus, caused by the collapse of the communist regime in 1991 and the ensuing economic crisis, has been the largest emigration movement in Europe since the population movements after World War II. Between 1989 and 2001, roughly 800,000 people have migrated out of Albania, about 440,000 of them settling in Greece, where Albanians make up 60% of immigrants.^[1] 350,000 Albanians have migrated to Italy over the 1990s to 2000s.^[2] The situation in Kosovo is similar. More than a million Albanians have left Kosovo since the late 1980s permanently, not counting those fleeing the Kosovo War who have subsequently returned.^[3] An important destination for emigrating Albanians from Kosovo has been Switzerland and Germany.^[4]

In Albania, emigration dates back to the 15th century when many Albanians emigrated to Calabria in Southern Italy after the defeat of Skanderbeg by Ottoman forces. Other popular destinations were Turkey, Bulgaria, and later the United States and South America. Following the communist take over after World War II, emigration was outlawed and violations severely punished. Two major emigration waves in the 1990s were:

• Post-1990 wave prior to the collapse of communism in Albania in the form of break-ins at foreign embassies and departures by ship
• Post-1997 wave following the 1997 unrest in Albania mainly by sea

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 decreased during the later 2000s.

In Albania, it is estimated that emigrant remittances account for 18% of GDP or $530 million annually.^[5] 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.^[6]Recently, following the 2010–2011 Greek Crisis, many Albanian emigrants have returned either temporarily or permanently to Albania.^[7]

The mass emigration of the 1990s to early 2000s has resulted in massive brain drain to 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.^[8] In 2006, a "brain gain" program compiled by Albanian authorities and the UNDP was put into action to encourage the skilled diaspora to contribute to the country's development, though its success remains to be seen.