560 thousand Albanian citizens have received the residence permission in the EU member countries in the last decade, according to data published by Eurostat today and processed by Monitor.

The figure is equal to 19.5% of Albania’s current population. The majority of the permissions have been issued for familiar reasons. Albania tops the list for the residence permissions of its citizens in EU from 2008, compared to the other Balkans countries.  

The record belongs to 2008, when 100 Albanians received their permissions, while 2013 was the lowest point, with 31 thousand applications, but still more than any other Balkans country.

The figures increased gradually from 2014 to 2017, when nearly 200 thousand Albanians received the permissions to live in EU.