Economic growth is not reaching those in need as households receiving economic assistance fall by 21% in three years

Albania continues to have the highest poverty rate in Europe, while the government’s social policies have left thousands of families with low pensions and recipients of economic assistance without adequate support.

According to official INSTAT data, the number of households receiving economic assistance fell by 21 percent between 2023 and 2025.

In 2025, the scheme covered 43,648 households, down from 55,410 registered in 2023.

During this period, the budget allocated to economic assistance was cut from 4.8 billion lek in 2023 to 3.8 billion lek in 2025, also a reduction of 21 percent.

This cut was not accompanied by an increase in payments to the households that continued to receive assistance. The monthly payment remained almost unchanged, at 7,253 lek per household in 2025, roughly the same level as two years earlier.

As a result, the reduced budget has been reflected mainly in the number of households covered by the scheme, rather than in an increase in the amount each household receives.

The payment appears even lower when compared with international standards. The World Bank has set the poverty line for upper-middle-income countries, including Albania, at $8.30 per person per day, based on 2021 prices and purchasing power parity.

This threshold amounts to $58.10 per week, or around $249 per month per person. In Albania, meanwhile, the average economic assistance payment is just 7,253 lek per month per household, far below what is needed to ensure a decent standard of living for the poorest people.

Although the country has no nationally defined poverty line, rising living costs—particularly since the pandemic—have made the monthly payment of 7,200 lek insufficient. It does not even cover electricity and water bills, let alone meet basic needs.

In their periodic assessments of Albania, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have called for stronger social protection and a more balanced distribution of the income generated by economic growth. Official data show that, on the contrary, the poorest segment of society is not benefiting from the expansion of the economy or the increase in budget revenues.