Eurostat Reveals 53% of Albanian Households Cannot Afford a Week’s Annual Holiday

More than half of Albania’s population does not have sufficient income to cover the cost of a week’s holiday away from home during the year.

Figures published by Eurostat, which refer to 2025 for European countries and 2023 for Albania, show that around 53% of Albanian households are unable to afford a week’s holiday. This result ranks Albania second in the region, immediately behind Romania, where the figure exceeds 60%. Albania is followed in this ranking by Turkey, North Macedonia and Greece.

The statistics confirm that difficulty affording holidays is particularly prevalent in Southeastern European countries and those with lower levels of economic development.

In this regard, Albania fares considerably worse than its regional neighbors. In Serbia, for example, around 36% of households are unable to afford a holiday, while in Bulgaria and Hungary the figure is approximately 39%. Italy records a rate of around 36%, while Portugal, Croatia and Spain range between 32% and 33%.

The European Union average stands at around 27%, almost half the figure recorded in Albania. In practical terms, this means the percentage of Albanian households unable to afford a week’s holiday is nearly double that observed in EU countries.

The lowest levels for this indicator are found in Switzerland and Norway, where fewer than 10% of households report that they lack the financial means to afford a week’s holiday.

Although holidays are not classified as a basic need, the inability to afford them serves as a key measure of well-being and material deprivation.

Eurostat’s indicator does not assess whether someone actually traveled for a holiday, but whether the household can afford to pay for a week away from home. The trip may take place within the country or abroad. When a household decides not to travel for personal reasons, it is not automatically classified as materially deprived.