Tirana is the richest city in Albania, but what is the poorest city?
2021-06-24 07:40:21
TiranaPost
The poorest region in the country, Kukes further deepened the welfare gap in relation to the national average in 2019.
According to INSTAT, the GDP per capita in Kukës was 61 percent of the national average and 26 percent of the capital level. The indicator further deteriorated in relation to 2018, where GDP per capita in the Kukes region was 64 percent of the national average.
INSTAT data show that out of 12 regions of the country, 8 of them have GDP per capita below the national average. This group includes Kukes with 61%, Elbasan with 70%, Lezha with 72%, Shkodra with 72%, Dibra with 73%, Korça with 75%, Berat with 79%, Vlora with 83% of the national average.
In contrast, only four counties have a GDP per capita on average or above the national average. The GDP per capita of Durrës was the same as the national average, Gjirokastra with 104%, Fieri 108% and Tirana has the GDP per capita as much as 135% of the national average.
Developments in the GDP of the regions indicate an increasing polarization of development in relation to the center of the country.
Developments show that the convergence of the country's regions (economic growth rates) to reach the center level has further deteriorated for the poorer regions. As a result, the northern region of the country ranks among the poorest regions in Europe and instead of improving it is deteriorating further.
GDP at current prices in the Northern Region (counties of Kukes, Shkodra, Lezha and Durres and Dibra) in 2019 reached 389.6 billion Lekë or 23.03% of the total country. Compared to 2018, in the North region, GDP in real terms increased by 2.16%. In this region, the highest increase in GDP per capita was in the region of Durrës with 5.6%, while the largest decrease was in the region of Kukës by about 1%.
GDP at current prices in the Center region (regions of Elbasan and Tirana) in 2019, was 835.1 billion Lekë or 49.36% of total GDP. Compared to 2018, for the Center region, GDP in real terms increased by 2.28%.
GDP at current prices in the South region (Berat, Fieri, Gjirokastra, Korça and Vlora) in 2019 was 467.1 billion Lekë or 27.61% of the total country. Compared to 2018, in the South region, GDP in real terms increased by 1.78%. Gjirokastra had the largest GDP growth per capita with about 8% compared to 2018, while Vlora had the lowest rates with only 1.31%.
* Received from Monitor.al
