Is Albania converging towards the Europeans Unions demographic structure?- An analysis of the aging populations indications based on findings from Eurostat

Albania appears to be undergoing a demographic transition. It has experienced a gradual increaase in the proportion of the population aged 65+ in recent years. The aim of the study is to analyse if Albania is converging towards the demographic structure of European Union countries. The analysis will focus on the 65-79 and 80+ age groups. Eurostat was chosen as the main source of data in order to guarantee the comparability and standardisation of data between Albania and the European Union 27. Three hypotheses are tested for the research question: Is Albania converging towards the European Union (EU 27) demographic structure based on the population aging indicators? The results show that the share of the population aged 65-79, the share of the population aged 80+ and the dependency ratio have shown increasing trends in Albania. Life expectancy at age 65 has shown considerable fluctuations, while no comparable data are available for healthy life expectancy for Albania. However, the pace of change is not the same for all indicators and the degree of convergence to the European average varies according to the dimension analyzed. The results of the study suggest the need for policies that promote active ageing. They suggest the need to improve the quality of life of the elderly population. They also suggest the need to develop health and social services adapted to the new demographic structure.