TIRANA, October 16/ATA/-The demographic future of the Balkans and half of Europe, afflicted by emigration and chronic low birth rates, is dramatic. From Greece to Poland, almost all Eastern, Central and Southeast European countries are wrestling with the same problems, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN writes.
In the latest article about the demographic crisis facing Central and Southeast Europe, BIRN has excluded Albania’s capital, Tirana from facing critical demographic decline.
According to BIRN, due to the hard work being done in every corner of Tirana there has been an improvement in the standard of living and consequently an increase in the population.
“Rural areas may be emptying everywhere but some places are growing.
Tirana, claims Erion Veliaj, its mayor, is growing by 25,000 a year while the country as a whole is losing people.
Cluj in Transylvania is a boom town, to which people from other parts of Romania and abroad flock to. Its success is based on the knowledge economy and IT.
There are examples in Romania where foreign investment, resulting in the building of modern factories, has arrested depopulation and even brought about some limited return.
If cities like Cluj could be replicated a thousand times and work done everywhere to improve living standards, as in Tirana, the situation would be very different,” the article says. //a.i/
