Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
An article has been published claiming that the population of Albania has decreased by 17% since 2011. According to the same article, Kosovo now has more inhabitants than Albania.
The article was published on June 29 by the Albanian-language portal operating in Switzerland, "lecanton27.ch".
What is the truth?
Hibrid.info has confirmed that the percentage of population decline, compared to the 2011 census in Albania, is lower than claimed in the aforementioned article. Also, the claim that Kosovo has a larger population than Albania is incorrect.
Link to the article published by the portal "lecanton27.ch":
Header of this article:
"ALBANIA'S DESTINY IN DANGER / Edi Rama's Albania in danger, disappearing: The country has lost 17% of its population since 2011 and an exodus of over 1 million others to Western countries. Kosovo today has more inhabitants than Albania!"
Hibrid.info has found the video material of the conference of the main results from the population census in Albania, published on the official channel of "Top Channel Albania" on Youtube (see here).
Based on published data, the population from this census is 2,402,113 inhabitants, or as shown, about 420 thousand less than the 2011 census.
According to the final report of the Institute of Statistics of Albania (INSTAT), found through search engines, the complete information published in 2013, for the 2011 census, shows that Albania had 2,821,977 inhabitants, which means 419,864 inhabitants more than the census conducted the previous year (see here).
The percentage of population decline calculated by hibrid.info turns out to be 14.87%, not 17%, as claimed in the aforementioned article. (see pictures below)
Hibrid.info has also addressed the claim that Kosovo has a larger population than Albania.
Figures show that the number of inhabitants in Kosovo, in the 2021 census, was 1.739.825 (here), while the results for the census conducted in 2024 have not yet been published (see here and here).
Analyze:
Claims that Albania has experienced a 17% population decline and that Albania now has a smaller population than Kosovo are incorrect.
The percentage decline in Albania's population since 2011 is 14.8%. Despite the decline, the country still has a larger population than Kosovo.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Manipulation of facts" and "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.
"Disinformation" is defined as information content that contains a "mix" of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful attributes, and that is created and/or distributed with the deliberate intention of causing harm. The motive behind the producers/distributors of disinformation content lies in achieving a political, financial, psychological or social goal.