Eurostat: Albania Ranks Second in Europe for Families Unable to Afford a Week’s Holiday

Despite its natural wealth of seas, lakes and mountains, Albania ranks among the European countries where economic deprivation is most pronounced. More than half of Albanian families cannot afford to finance a week’s holiday away from home during the year.

Eurostat data, which refer to 2025 for European countries and 2023 for Albania, show that around 53% of families in the country cannot afford the cost of a week’s holiday. At this level, Albania ranks second after Romania, where the percentage exceeds 60%.

Albania is followed by Turkey at around 51%, North Macedonia at approximately 48% and Greece at around 47%. The figures show that the inability to afford a holiday is more widespread in Southeastern Europe and in lower-income economies.

Albania is also in a worse position compared with other countries in the region. In Serbia, around 36% of families cannot afford a holiday, while in Bulgaria and Hungary this figure is approximately 39%. In Italy, the level is around 36%, while in Portugal, Croatia and Spain it ranges from 32% to 33%.

In the European Union, the average stands at around 27%, almost half the level recorded in Albania. This means that, proportionally, the inability to pay for a week’s holiday affects roughly twice as many Albanian families as families in the EU.

The gap is even wider in higher-income countries. In Germany and Ireland, around one in five families cannot afford a week’s holiday, while in the Netherlands and Sweden the figure falls to around 12-13%.

The lowest levels are recorded in Switzerland and Norway, where fewer than 10% of families cannot afford to pay for a week’s holiday. In Luxembourg, the figure is around 11%.

Albania’s ranking is linked to low household incomes and limited capacity for non-essential spending. Most of the household budget is spent on food, housing, energy and transport.

Although holidays are not classified as a basic expense, the inability to afford them serves as an important indicator of living standards and material deprivation.

Eurostat does not measure the number of people who have actually travelled for a holiday, but assesses whether a household has the financial means to spend a week away from home. The trip may be taken within the country or abroad.

A family that chooses not to travel for personal reasons is not automatically classified as deprived.