site.btaOver 7,000 People Identify as Bulgarians in Last Census in Albania

In Albania, a total of 7,057 people have declared themselves Bulgarians, according to data published by Top Channel TV. This is the first census after the official recognition of the Bulgarian community in Albania in 2017.

The country's population is 2,412,113, according to the first population and housing census data, released by the Albanian statistical institute and quoted by the media. 

According to Top Channel TV, the number of Albanian citizens has dropped by 420,000 (13.8%) from 2011, when the previous census was conducted.

The country's national census took place between September 18 and November 15, 2023.

The data that was collected concerned Albania's residents, their demographic and social characteristics, as well as people's housing, health, education and work.

The final census data is expected to be published in December 2024.

The ethnicity, language and faith of Albanian citizens were the only questions on a 100-question form, which were optional and not subject to penalty for refusal to answer.

The country's religious communities consist of 201,530 Catholics, 173,645 Orthodox Christians, 9,658 evangelicals, 1,101,718 Muslims, 115,644 Bektashi, and 85,311 atheists, the media outlet added.

Over 332,000 Albanians identified as believers without specifying their religion, while 244,331 others did not wish to answer. 

The 2023 census is the country's twelfth national census since Albania's independence in 1912. The first census was carried out in 1923.

This census was supposed to take place in 2020, but was postponed by three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors such as the strong earthquake in the country in 2019. 

Albania's population was 2,831,741 in the previous census in 2011, and 3,069,275 in 2001, Top Channel noted.