The money that emigrants bring to their families in Albania continues to have an increasing trend, reflecting the new cycle of emigration in the country.

Bank of Albania data on the balance of payments revealed that income from emigrants was 817 million euros in January-September 2025, with an increase of 5.9% compared to the same period a year earlier.

The growth rates accelerated in the third quarter, which traditionally has higher inflows as emigrants come to Albania during the summer holidays. For July-September 2025, emigrants brought back to their relatives in their homeland 285 million euros, or 8.8% more compared to the same period a year earlier.

Since 2013, the money that emigrants bring to Albania has increased continuously (see chart), reflecting a new cycle of emigration, which began mainly after 2015.

After a decline in 2020, as a result of the pandemic, the upward trend accelerated significantly. In the first 9 months of 2024, the limit of 800 million euros was exceeded for the first time. At these rates, the year could close with record levels of over 1 billion euros. (In the last quarter of 2024, inflows were 273 million euros).

The new immigrants seem to never leave without looking back, taking care of the relatives they leave behind in Albania.

According to Eurostat data, a total of 2022 thousand residence permits were granted for the first time in 2023-154 alone. Since 2008, when Eurostat reports the data, around 920 thousand Albanian citizens have received residence permits for the first time, who are a potential to send money to relatives they have left behind in Albania.

Market players claim that the main channels continue to remain traditional countries of immigration, such as Greece and Italy, but in recent years there has been growth from new destinations such as England and Germany.

Remittances are counted by the Bank of Albania as part of the current account in the balance of payments, according to IMF standards (BPM6).

They include all monetary flows that emigrants send to families and individuals resident in Albania, both through formal channels (banks, financial institutions and transfer operators), as well as through estimates of informal flows.

For this purpose, the Bank uses banking system data, periodic reports from licensed entities and specific surveys of beneficiary families, aiming to capture the entirety of real remittance flows in the economy./ Monitor