Family continues to hold an important place in Albanian society. A report published by Eurostat shows that 1 in 4 people in Albania say they meet with relatives and their social circle every day. This result places the country in 7th position in Europe for strong family ties.

Cyprus tops the list, with the highest percentage of residents reporting daily meetings with family members. It is followed by Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, Greece and Portugal, with Albania coming next.

Denmark closes the ranking, as only 2.5% of its population says it meets with family members every day.

Eurostat data also show that 20.5% of Albania’s population meets weekly with friends or relatives, 19.3% maintains regular contact several times during the month, while 15.7% meets once a month. According to experts, these indicators show that Albania remains rooted in a social model based on close relationships, where frequent physical presence and mutual assistance continue to be a fundamental part of everyday life.

The post Eurostat: 24.6% of Albanians Meet with Family and Friends Every Day appeared first on Albeu.com.

Only 8.6% of individuals in Albania had purchased tickets online for concerts, festivals or other events during the three months preceding the 2025 survey, according to Eurostat data.

This percentage is far below the European Union average, where 26.8% of citizens had purchased tickets online. In the EU, more than one in four people use the internet to obtain event tickets, while in Albania fewer than one in 11 do so.

Eurostat reports that, compared with 2024, the share of EU citizens who purchased tickets online increased by 3.8 percentage points, driven by the expansion of digital platforms and the return of concerts and festivals to the European cultural calendar.

Albania Behind Serbia and North Macedonia

Internet use for purchasing tickets remains limited throughout the Western Balkans.

Serbia had the highest percentage in the region, with 11.4% of individuals having purchased event tickets online, followed by North Macedonia at 10.8%.

Albania ranked next at 8.6%, ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina at 7.4%, Kosovo at 7.35% and Montenegro at 6%.

Turkey also recorded a lower rate than Albania, at 6.2%.

The gap is also evident when compared with neighboring EU countries. In Greece, 38.9% of individuals had purchased tickets online, more than four times the rate in Albania.

The percentage was 28.3% in Croatia, 20.9% in Slovenia and 11.4% in Bulgaria. Despite its much larger market for concerts and cultural activities, Italy had a relatively low rate by EU standards, at 14.2%.

Ireland and Norway Lead the Ranking

Among the European countries for which data are available, Ireland had the highest percentage, with 51.5% of individuals having purchased tickets online.

It was followed by Norway at 50.3%, the Netherlands at 48.1% and Denmark at 47.9%. The percentage was 44.2% in Finland, 42.2% in Switzerland and 38.9% in Greece.

In these countries, online purchasing has become the main way to obtain tickets for concerts, festivals, performances and other activities.

Within the European Union, the lowest rates were recorded in Bulgaria at 11.4%, Romania at 12.6% and Italy at 14.2%.

Kanye West Concert Exposed the Limits of Domestic Demand

The limited use of online ticketing platforms was also reflected in ticket sales for singer Kanye West’s concert in Tirana. He is one of the world’s biggest artists and ranks as the 10th most-streamed artist on Spotify.

The event was planned for a large audience of 60,000 people, including tourists, but sales proceeded more slowly than forecast.

Organizers had stated that at least 40,000 tickets needed to be sold for the concert to be financially viable, while a considerable number of seats remained available just days before it was due to take place.

One of the obstacles was the price of the tickets, which ranged from 120 to 330 euros, high levels relative to the purchasing power of the domestic audience.

Interest from foreign tourists was also weaker than initially expected, as Albania is not known as a country that hosts events of this scale.

In the final days before the concert, the government allocated around 4.2 million euros to organize the event, citing tourism promotion. The funding was provided at a time when sales had not reached the level organizers said was necessary for financial viability, and was presented by the government as an effort to save the concert and, along with it, the country’s image.

The case highlighted the difficulty of organizing major events based solely on domestic demand in a market where purchasing power is low and internet use for buying tickets is among the most limited in Europe./MONITOR

The post Only 8.6% of Albanians Buy Event Tickets Online, Among the Lowest Rates in Europe appeared first on Albeu.com.

A special conversation between pop music star Dua Lipa and renowned author Lea Ypi has brought attention to an in-depth discussion about democracy, political elites and the importance of protest in today’s society.

In the latest episode of the Service95 Book Club podcast, the pair focused on civic movements in Albania and the message they convey about confronting political apathy.

Dua Lipa commented on one of the protest’s powerful slogans, “Albania Is Not for Sale,” and responded to a question from one of the program’s commenters: “How can we avoid protest fatigue?” This prompted an in-depth discussion about civic movements in Albania.

During the podcast, Lea Ypi said, “It is important to see democracy as something that also lives through these moments of protest, and not to reduce democracy simply to participation in elections.”

Podcast conversation:

Dua Lipa: I would like to hand it over at this point to Service95 readers, because I have some questions from them to share. This question relates to the “Albania Is Not for Sale” protests and asks: “How can we avoid protest fatigue?” – Cassidy

Lea Ypi: I think it is important to see democracy as something that also lives through these moments of protest, and not to reduce democracy simply to participation in elections, not to reduce it to the existing elites, and not to think that we have done our duty simply on the day when we went and chose one representative over another. And to understand that, in these instances, protests can also be creative. They can generate ideas, they can generate projects, and…

Dua Lipa: Yes.

Lea Ypi: For me, it is crucial that we hold on to this and not give in to apathy and cynicism. And here, at the beginning, people were singing, dancing and handing out flowers to the police, so it was simply a truly different way of holding a protest…

Dua Lipa: Yes, of protesting.

Lea Ypi: …which I found truly inspiring and which could serve as an example of how other countries should respond to their elites and to this oligarchic capture of politics.

The post Dua Lipa and Lea Ypi Again Address Albanians: Do Not Give Up, Protests Bring Change and Protect Democracy (VIDEO) appeared first on Albeu.com.

Today, the protests against the government are entering their 65th day, marking more than two months of uninterrupted mobilization in the streets of Tirana. This evening, too, citizens are expected to gather in front of the Prime Minister’s Office to continue the daily protest, which, according to the organizers, will continue until Prime Minister Edi Rama leaves office.

What began as a reaction to developments in Zvërnec has turned into a broader civic movement, with daily protests against the government and what the organizers describe as a “political caste.”

For more than two months, the gatherings have been accompanied by marches through the capital’s main streets and persistent calls for political change.

At the previous day’s protest, activists declared that they would not retreat from their cause. They reiterated their demand for the prime minister’s resignation, while saying that public discontent is also spreading to other cities across the country because of the new territorial reform, under which the majority’s proposal is expected to merge 15 municipalities.

As every evening, today’s protest is expected to begin with speeches in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, followed by a march through the streets of Tirana. The organizers have announced that the mobilization will continue every day until their demands are met, stressing that the protest will not stop.

The post Albanians Refuse to Give In: 65 Days of Uninterrupted Mass Protests Against the Government, Edi Rama’s Resignation Demanded appeared first on Albeu.com.

More than 80% of the ethnic Albanian victims killed during the most recent war in Kosovo were civilians. Atdhe Hetemi, director of the Institute for Crimes Committed During the War, disclosed the figure in an interview with RTK Prime following the launch of the Institute’s Report on Crimes Committed During the War in Kosovo.

Hetemi specified that more than 80% of the victims from the Albanian community were civilians killed in the war. Meanwhile, according to him, more than 52.4% of those killed, missing or dead as a result of the war were armed or had been identified as members of the armed forces.

To document war crimes, the Institute obtained materials from more than 15 different countries around the world. Hetemi said the materials comprise hundreds of linear meters of archival records and more than 21 terabytes of data, collected with the aim of verifying every victim.

According to him, support from international institutions and organizations constituted the second archival pillar. The process of collecting materials covered three categories: people who were killed, those forcibly disappeared and people who died as a result of the war.

Hetemi described the list as preliminary, stressing that the Institute remains open to receiving other cases so that the country’s historical archive can be further enriched.

He explained that the difference lies in the methodology and the basic criteria used to determine which people are included on the list. The four criteria cover people who were born or resided in Kosovo during the war; those who suffered fatal injuries or disappeared under circumstances directly related to the war; people who died from injuries sustained during the war; and, based on documentation, people connected to the most recent war in Kosovo.

In the gender breakdown, Hetemi said that 11,415 victims, or 86.3% of those killed, were male, while 1,811 women were also killed. According to him, an analysis of these data shows that the consequences of the war were not limited to men alone.

The report shows that people of working age were the hardest hit during the war. Hetemi said that 57.5% of the victims belonged to the 18-to-50 age group.

He added that 14.7% of the victims were over the age of 65, while more than 1,240 were between the ages of 0 and 17.

Today’s presentation announced that the report had documented a total of 12,230 war victims for the period from January 1998 to June 20, 1999. It also recorded 1,247 children between the ages of 0 and 17 who were killed, while another 94 died because of wartime conditions. The fate and whereabouts of 100 forcibly disappeared children remain unknown.

The post Hetemi: More Than 80% of Albanians Killed During the War Were Civilians appeared first on Albeu.com.

New claims about the suspected perpetrators have brought renewed attention to the killing of six young Serbs on December 14, 1998, at the “Panda” café in Pejë.

The victims’ families, however, say they no longer believe speculation and are waiting only for official evidence from the justice institutions.

Ivan Niniq, the lawyer representing the families, has asked Serbia’s Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime to question Radomir Boban Baçeviq. His name was mentioned by Milosh Medenica, a convicted Montenegrin fugitive, as the person who directly opened fire inside the “Panda” café.

Speaking to the Nova news portal, Zvonko Gvozdenoviq, the father of Vukota Gvozdenoviq, who was killed at the age of 16, said the families would no longer accept accusations unsupported by evidence.

He said he could not know whether Medenica’s statements were true. According to him, the Prosecutor’s Office must verify them and determine whether they have any basis, while stressing that this is not the first time someone has exploited the deaths of their children.

Gvozdenoviq recalled that many names have been mentioned over the years as possible perpetrators of the massacre, but no evidence that could solve the case has ever been presented.

According to him, the families want evidence, the identities of those who opened fire and the names of those who ordered the crime. He clarified that they are not seeking names circulated through rumors, but only individuals whose responsibility has been confirmed by the Prosecutor’s Office.

He also criticized the Serbian institutions over the stalled investigation, noting that more than a decade has passed without any concrete results.

The attack on the “Panda” café took place on December 14, 1998, when armed individuals opened fire with automatic weapons inside the establishment in Pejë, where young Serbs were gathered.

Ivan Obradoviq (15), Vukota Gvozdenoviq (16), Zoran Stanojeviq, Svetislav Ristiq (17), Dragan Trifunoviq (17) and Ivan Radevićq (25) were killed.

Vladimir Lonçareviq and Mirsad Shaboviq, the owner of the establishment, were seriously wounded, while Nikola Rajoviq sustained minor injuries.

Debate surrounding the “Panda” case has also been fueled over the years by statements made by Serbian President Aleksandar Vuçiq.

In December 2013, while serving as Serbia’s deputy prime minister, Vuçiq stated that Albanians had not committed the “Panda” crime and warned that the public would be shocked once it learned the truth.

At the end of 2015, two years after that statement, Vuçiq said he was almost certain about what had happened at the café. However, to date, the perpetrators have not been officially identified and the case remains unsolved.

The post Families Recall Vuçiq’s Statement That the “Panda” Crime Was Not Committed by Albanians and Demand the Truth appeared first on Albeu.com.